Appscend / Mobile, Media and Real-time Insights

Choosing the Best Mobile App Development Platform

Appscend Team

shutterstock_131295215Mobile App Development Platform – What Is It Exactly?

Organizations all over the world are constantly looking for a mobile app development platform able to support their specific business needs. As clear as it gets, the mobile app development is the entire process by which application software is developed for different mobile devices, such as smartphones or iPads.

The app development platform environment has been steadily growing in the past few years, and now each of the platforms for mobile apps has an integrated development environment, providing developers to create apps for a targeted platform audience.

How Do You Choose The Best Mobile App Development Platform For Your Needs?

The mobile app development platform field is a broad one, vendors offering a wide array of possibilities. How do you choose the best for your needs?

For a start, let’s focus on the two most dominant players in the mobile space, the app development platforms everybody is talking about: iOS & Android. The question is “iOS or Android” but the answer is a bit more complicated.

But before that, there’s another mobile app developmet decision you’ve got to take: native or cross-platform?

A native mobile app is created using the manufacturer’s device or operating system and runs on a single platform. A cross-platform mobile app is developed using a single code base and it can run on multiple platforms. We wrote more on this subject here, focusing on native versus hybrid mobile app development, considering the advantages and disadvantages of both options.

Taking into consideration a native mobile app is an ideal app, most companies decide to develop a native application, planning on creating both an iOS and Android app, as both those platform’s brand identities are growing by the day. Microsoft’s Windows Phone is also a good place to start – especially for deployment in enterprise environments, as it has received positive reviews and it’s integrated with Microsoft’s entire stack of IT products.

However, if you think it’s for the better to just pick one, just go for it, it’s perfectly ok. Just make sure it provides a superior mobile app development experience and it’s the best option for your needs.

Deciding On A Mobile App Development Platform

The point is to deliver the mobile app to the right audience, at the right time – regardless of the device and development tool. What criteria you should use when selecting one platform or more than one? Here are some things you might consider when deciding on a development platform:

  1. What is your target audience using? Do you see a higher mobile engagement rate from iOS users or Android ones? Both? You need to put your potential customer needs first.
  2. **Which platform is more familiar to your developers? If you are not planning on contracting the mobile app development** work.
  3. **What profit do you wish to make? How do you plan to monetize? **Each development platform offers distinct financial/income opportunities.
  4. Which are the future prospects? You should understand the long-term consequences on deciding on one or more mobile app platforms.

Key Requirements To Make The Right Choice

Decide wisely, here are some thoughts on what you need to do so in such a fast-changing and competitive marketplace:

  • Proper knowledge of mobile app development platforms
  • Research on the latest technological advances in the industry
  • Specific documentation on the mobile market