Tag Archive for: IPhone

Last Updated on March 31, 2021 Like most developers, I often get asked how much it costs to build an app.  For many clients it is not apparent that this is a little like asking how much it costs to build a house or buy a car. It is a difficult question to answer, and often requires quite a bit of work to nail down requirements, choose development platforms that are suitable to the client's requirements and decide on back-end integration strategies.

Juergen Berkessel

Updated February 2020

  • Addition of the Topflight Apps Cost Calculator
  • Addition of the "Advanced App Development Cost Calculator"
  • Addition of the Kinvey App Cost Estimator and the Ionic App Estimator. Please note Kinvey works on desktops only, not support for mobile devices yet.
  • Please also note that we have added some resources on our app design and app development pages since this article was originally written.
  • We’ve had quite a few reactions to this post since it was originally published, and in 2014 and 2015 most people still thought that the cost of developing an app would rapidly decline. Perhaps this was anticipating that app development tools would become easier to use and cheap programmers would become ubiquitous. Perhaps this is driven by the fact that the cost of buying apps are “racing to the bottom”. But apps being cheaper to buy in the app store do not translate into the app development costs being any lower. If anything, user expectations about features, social sign-in, and ease of use have increased at the same time that expectations around prices are that they should be lower.

    So no, app development costs have not really come down y much, in my opinion.

    App Cost Calculators  Can Help Figure Out The Cost To Develop An App

    One of the best ways to estimate what an app will likely cost is to consider advice from multiple sources. There are now several app cost calculators out there, and by plugging in assumptions and required features, you should be able to get a consensus opinion about what the ballpark cost will be. Keep in mind that  it is important to configure assumptions about what functionality is needed, especially related to cross platform requirements and needing a back-end and database connectivity as well as social features, required for many app concepts out there…

    So here are five calculators I’ve found particularly useful:

    Advanced App Development Cost Calculator

    Advanced App Development Cost Calculator

    Topflight Apps Cost Calculator

    Advanced App Development Cost Calculator

    Kinvey
    App Cost Estimator

    Kinvey App Cost Calculator

    Kinvey App Cost Estimator

    Otreva
    App Cost Calculator

    Otreva App Cost Calculator

    Otreva App Cost Calculator

    Crew
    App Cost Calculator

    app cost calculator

    Crew - App Cost Calculator

    Ionic
    App Cost Calculator

    Ionic App Cost Estimator

    High End vs. Low End

    Since their introduction in 2010, tablets have become mainstay computing platforms, and  people’s expectations around App User Experiences for both smartphone and tablet platforms have since been raised by many of the great efforts out there.

    High end apps like FlipBoard, Zite, Pulse as well as the many great games, entertainment and utility apps published during the last years have served to inspire developers and clients alike.

    Consider that for games and high end apps it is a matter of having a champagne budget to accompany the champagne taste: Such apps cost hundreds of thousands dollars to develop, and projects like  FlipBoard raised 10.5M of first round funding, and have just gone back for round two for an eye popping 200 million. The iPad News reader Zite was sold to CNN for over $20 million.

    On the low end there are automatic app creation services like The App BuilderGood Barber, and Appery.io which offer very low cost alternatives. However for such template driven apps in general the consensus among clients (and developers) seems to be that one gets what one pays for, and that such platforms will not serve brands to differentiate themselves from the pack

    Do You Really Need An App?

    Often clients come to me with a concept for an app. By the time they are talking to developers, they of course are thinking they really need this app, for whatever reason. 

    Digital Strategy Roadmap

    But often when I start digging into their business, assets, website, email lists etc., I wind up gently discouraging them from building an app when other fundamental aspects of their digital presence and strategy are missing or need to be built before an app project could ever bear fruit. 2012 was one thing, but in 2020 the app market is extremely saturated and only truly stand out ideas, with the requisite funding to develop and market them, have any chance at visibility. So for me, there may be truly ROI effective alternative ways to build up a digital strategy, before even considering developing an app.


    Consider a recent 2020 example: The Democratic Iowa Caucus app. The spectacular failure of this app was avoidable with better and more experienced development approaches. Many of the faults there were platform independent and caused by decision making of the people involved – but vote counting could have easily been done with a mobile friendly web-site, and some of the app development costs could have been spent on better testing and faster deployment cycles.

    Top Down vs. Bottom Up

    But assuming a client is committed to develop one, one approach is to start with a top down budget figure, and then decide how many of the desired features can be accommodated within that budget. However very often clients do no wish to communicate such an up-front number.
    The other approach is to start by gathering requirements from the bottom up and estimating the project costs. But depending on previous experience and "mobile readiness" of a client, this can be either a short or very long process; some of our clients did not even own a tablet computer at the outset of a project, and the familiarization process can take a long time.

    Another phenomenon we've noticed that often apps are perceived by clients as an independent stand alone entities, even when they serve data from a network; the concept that an app may require a back-end content management system came as a surprise to some. App promotion costs are equally easy to overlook at the beginning of a project, we we stress the importance of budgeting for this up-front.

    As part of our agile app delivery model we often recommend starting with a mobile requirements definition and design engagement, which has the added benefit of ensuring that the app development effort fits into the overall strategy of the brand, and considers User Experience and persona development dimensions. In the next section we will list industry examples and the full Polymash Agile App Delivery Model. The full Polymash Agile Delivery Model is available here:

    Some Industry Examples

    A few years ago I came across a couple of excellent articles that are still relevant and do an great job of breaking down the dimensions that contribute to tablet (and smartphone) development costs:

    The Cost of Building an iPad App | PadGadget

    The Cost of Building an iPad App | PadGadget
    Regardless of who actually develops the app, let’s look at what it takes to build it. An iPhone or iPad app typically takes anywhere between 2 weeks to several months to build, depending on the complexity. Building an app is not just about coding, as it requires:

    Design:
    Unless you have the proper skills to do the design yourself, design will cost you money, especially for more advanced apps. Expect weeks of work to build all the app screens, and this job cannot be off-shored. At $50 to $150 an hour, U.S. based designers will likely bill you anywhere between a couple thousands of dollars for a basic app, to several dozens of thousands of dollars if you’re building a higher-end app that requires many screens to be designed.

    Coding:
    Similarly, writing the app’s code will usually take several weeks to several months of work. This work can be off-shored, and several outlets in Europe and Asia do this job for a living. If you decide to off-shore, you will likely save some money, however, keep in mind that off-shoring requires a lot of coordination, as you will have to manage teams that may not speak the same language, work different hours, and have hundreds of customers like you to deal with. A U.S. based team will likely cost you more, but these teams are local and are usually a lot easier to deal with.

    Testing:
    Nobody wants bad reviews in the App Store. In other words, you will need to spend days playing with your app, trying to identify bugs and find out what could go wrong. Again, depending on the complexity of the app, this job could take one person a couple days, or five people two weeks. Expect a lot of “back and forth” between the testing and development teams, in order to get rid of all bugs identified within the app.

    Infrastructure:
    Unless your app does not require any interaction with external servers, keep in mind that server development and infrastructure is critical for the app to succeed, as a slow server response and/or overloaded server will likely lead to bad reviews and poor sales, even if the app is great. Don’t be shy and expect to invest a lot of money on the server side of the equation, especially if you expect your app to be wildly successful. Good infrastructures do not come cheap, and keep in mind that recurring monthly fees will have a direct impact on your revenue.

    Validation:
    When you are ready to launch, the last gate is the validation. Passing the validation could take anywhere from a couple of days to several weeks, depending on the app and depending on the number of Apple guidelines your app may be infringing.
    Project Management: The more third parties involved, the bigger your headache!

    For a nice but simple app, the design work will likely take a designer about a week, which will cost you about $6,000. The server side will likely require a developer about 2 weeks of work, or about $12,000. Similarly, the app could be written in about 2 weeks as well, another $12,000. Add $5,000 for project management, hosting fees for a year, debugging, unforeseen delays, and your total budget is around $35,000.

    For a nice high end app, like a high-end game, numbers are usually much higher. Design will likely cost you $30,000 alone. Development will be in the $150,000+ range. Hosting fees and extras will cost another $30,000. At the end of the day, your app will likely cost you at least $200,000.

    read the complete article here…

    How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Mobile App?

    Appmuse Article – How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Mobile App?

    Alex Ahlund, former CEO of AppVee and AndroidApps, and later an advisor to Appolicious, wrote a guest blog article about app sales on TechCrunch.  According to that article, a survey of 96 mobile app developers showed the average cost to develop an app was $6,453.  An article on OS X Daily about iPhone Development Costs reported that the development cost range for “small apps” is $3,000 to $8,000 and that “more complex or recognized brand apps” can cost $50,000 to $150,000.

    Here is an infographic as well as comprehensive article:

    As little as some 5 or 10 years ago, developing an app was unbelievably expensive. Most startups and SMBs could not afford to hire an international freelancer or outsource their app idea for development. But times have changed and today various mobile technologies have enabled startups, SMBs and enterprises to build an app in their budget. Here is an article from explaining current app development processes and costs.

    App Development Cost Infographic

    For some additional resources and recent app cost calculators, see the following links:

    How Much Will my Mobile App Cost to Create? – http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/cost-develop-app/

    Carter, Bluecloud Solutions

    Is Developing a Mobile App Worth the Cost? – http://mashable.com/2011/02/24/mobile-app-dev-cost/

    By Aaron Maxwell, Mashable

    In Pounds Sterling:

    This post provided some very detailed estimates by the CTO of 5App and his conclusion:

    It’s safe to assume that using traditional development techniques to create a cross-platform enterprise app won’t come in under £100K.

    The Apple and Samsung patent trial is expected to come to a close this week. Samsung is accused of infringing on iPhone and iPad patents in the design of their own devices. The outcome, be it either a win for Samsung or Apple, will likely influence the direction of how tablets will be designed and marketed worldwide.

    In an Article in the NY Times, Nick Wingfield reports:

    “But the effects of the case are likely to be felt far beyond these two companies. If Apple prevails, experts believe Samsung and other rivals in the market will have a much stronger incentive to distinguish their smartphone and tablet products with unique features and designs to avoid further legal tangles.”
    read the article…

    And this will be good news, because if the case goes Samsung’s way, then tablet features and design will continue to emulate the iPad and iOS experience, and I for one would look forward to seeing more innovation from Apple’s competitors both on the hardware and software side.

    Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

    tablet wars 2012 What was interesting for me as an app designer was that attention to detail Samsung paid in copying software features of what they clearly perceived to be a superior product. An internal 132 page Samsung report complained about the fact that Samsung’s design fell short of Apple’s example in key areas, and did so through a comparison of the two devices in the minutest detail; for example a discussion about the pixel width of the separator line between numbers displayed in the of the built in calculator.

    This surprised me a bit, as Samsung is a device manufacturer, and I would have expected them to be concerned with tablet hardware features and price to differentiate itself from other Android based tablets and smartphones.

    But it seems that the 132 page report points to examples of how Samsung tweaked the Android OS software. And thus contributing to one of the biggest issues that keep Android based tablets from winning the tablet wars for now: Device Fragmentation. There are 700 some varieties of Android devices, with 30+ different screen resolutions and countless manufacturer specific OS tweaks, and this is what presents enormous quality and design challenges for cross platform developers like us.

    Tablet wars aren’t won by hardware: It’s the Apps, Stupid!

    As an app designer and developer I may be biased, but to me the tablet wars in the end will come down to neither device features or price. To mis-quote Bill Clinton: “It’s the apps, stupid”. Having a vibrant app marketplace, and therefore having an enthusiastic developer community is what I think will continue to primarily influence the tablet wars.

    Do hardware features matter?

    Manufacturers would like you to believe that hardware features and price make a significant difference to consumers, but in the end the iPad tablet is not that deficient on the hardware front. And on the software side? Of course there are great apps available for Android, but on the whole an extra megapixel of camera resolution on a lesser known tablet may simply not make up for the variety, quality and choice of fantastic apps available on the iTunes App Stores.

    All Apple has to do to keep pace and marketshare is to announce a slightly less expensive tablet, perhaps with a 7″ screen size…

    Are you thinking of creating an app?

    In this post we outline some readiness factors to consider before getting started.

    Since 2010 we’ve had lots of people approach us with great ideas for apps. Many clients share our vision that the future of accessing content is on mobile devices, and they visualize their own ideas or content as engaging, beautiful, stunning apps.

    But before launching straight into developing an app, we help our clients understand the mobile market as a whole, and also help them assess their own readiness to launch a mobile strategy for their business. With this we introduce our assessment tool, and also invite you to download our comprehensive and free “Mobile 2012” white paper.

    Mobile Devices? It’s humans who are mobile.

    Mobile devices are still relatively new.  The fact is humans have always been mobile.  It’s only now we have the technologies that allow us to access the content we value 24/7 in exciting ways.  This has been possible only in the last couple of years…. thinking here of how the iPad has transformed publishing, news, social media and just about everything else the internet allowed us to do in limited ways.  Apps on mobile devices allow us to interact with content and people in much more compelling, more beautiful and playful ways, wherever we are and whenever we want.  Pretty powerful stuff.

    Transform Your Existing Content

    If you are already mobile savvy and have fresh app ideas or novel app concepts, you may like following our app design process to create rapid wireframes & prototypes. Many others, like authors or leaders in their field, may be less mobile savvy but already have content they believe is of value to people.  Perhaps the following examples resonate with you:

    • It could be a book you’ve already published, or want to publish
    • It could be training materials that you have developed
    • It could be you have a particular methodology or tool kit that has helped clients in your professional field
    • It could be you have curated a photo or art collection of specific era, or subject matter
    • It could be you have a hobby that you want to document and share with others who share the passion
    • It could be you are a specialist in your discipline of health, fitness, education, medicine, history, astrology, biology, anthropology, or any of the sciences.
    • It could be you have a children’s story that you’ve created and want to interactivate it!

    So the question to ask is “How mobile ready are you?” You want to give yourself or your business the best launch possible into the mobile space.

    If you have the dream, a strong belief and the content, that’s what counts

    Polymash has had 100s of conversations on this topic with individual content owners and businesses.  After years of building relationships and educating clients, we have been able to distill the key drivers to successful app creation to six major dimensions.  This assessment takes a very real look at what it takes to make a successful app in a still relatively new, yet rapidly growing market place.  The self-assessment is not for the faint-hearted.  And, it’s not to say, if you’re strong in few dimensions that you can’t start.  If you have the content and a strong belief and a dream, that’s what counts.

    What does it take to make an app, and how ready are you?

    • Know your market – who your users are and what they will do with your app
    • Compelling content – what assets can you provide – images, stories, models, videos, graphics
    • Organization culture – the supportive work context – leadership support, finances, timeframes, innovative mindsets
    • Mobile Device awareness – experience consuming content on mobile, so you’re able to discern good user experience
    • Marketing and Social Media Savvy – a product launch is a product launch, requiring marketing investment and social proof
    • Aligned Strategy including Web – going mobile is a strategic undertaking; a holistic integrated web strategy is important

    What does it take to make an app?

    [box]

    Readiness Assessment Tool

    What does it take to make an app? Take Polymash’s Assessment Tool to find our your current state of readiness.

    • Discover where your strengths already exist.
    • Find out what opportunities there are for you to prepare yourself for your greatest success.
    • Learn from our experience and how we have helped many like you who have created apps to serve their user base and grow their global reach.

    [maxbutton id=”9″]

    [/box]

    As part of the free Readiness Assessment Tool and in addition to your results, you will also receive a comprehensive report and state of the mobile landscape as of July 2012.

    Get ahead now in understanding mobile trends and position yourself for the future!

     

    Available now: iTunes, Android marketplaces.

    The 2012 World Appreciative Inquiry Conference in Ghent, Belgium held in April is available for download from iTunes and Android markets.

    Enhancing Attendees Experience

    The app is the hand-held concierge of the conference. We had fun designing features to enhance the experience of conference goers that can’t be done in a standard conference program, particularly one that is traditional print.

    Anticipation and Imagination

    In the Appreciative World, we seek to discover the best of humankind, to build on strengths, to celebrate the talents of all participants, to anticipate and imagine what more can be done to make a situation, a person, a product excel.  We used that perspective in designing this app for the World Appreciative Inquiry Conference.

    Sustained Connection and Learning

    The Conference app is available before, during and after the event so that the learning and engagement continues well beyond the event itself.

    Conference-app-system

    For a more detailed view of the features set, please visit our conference-app-system website.  The app is a native universal app, designed for iPad and iPhone. No persistent wifi connection required to access the conference program, presenters, sponsors, venue, transportation information and animated maps.

    Instant access to Papers and Presentations

    Attendees can easily search and filter presentations, papers and abstracts in context as part of the session detail information and provide information as needed during the event.

    Sharing and Networking

    The Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn integration enables attendees to share interesting sessions with their peers and extend the reach for presenters and event organizers.

    Real-Time Updates and Reminders

    Attendees receive just-in-time notifications regarding news, scheduling and program changes, made visible on the home screen.

    Rich Experience and Paperless Events

    The Conference-App-System can make your conference truly paperless, with the integration of slides and pdfs.  The app has a note taking feature, enabling participants to create a personalized and valuable reference app to be used long after the conference and can be emailed to others in the spirit of collaboration.

    App Features:

    • Search feature to find presenters, their bios, their photos, their session outlines and room locations
    • Personal session builder to build your personal conference program with an intuitive color coded program view based on themed tracks
    • Notetaker to take your own notes, edit them, collate them and link them to other other notes relevant to the same theme
    • Email individual notes and insights during the sessions, or a a summary report of all notes taken at any time
    • Share your notes with others to co-create entries for blogs, papers and other publications
    • Presenters’ slides and presentations can be uploaded for participants to read
    • Provide feedback to others via notes features
    • News and notifications keep you informed about latest updates, program changes, newly scheduled events and meetings
    • Conference blog feed
    • Participate in live Twitter streams about the conference
    • Share news on Facebook and connect to others on Facebook
    • Sponsors’ information and links
    • Around town: interactive maps with POIs, restaurants, sights and entertainments (iOS only)
    • Local information about the International Convention Center (ICC), the town and its attractions, and transportation

     

    App Support:

    Feel free to contact us with any feedback and app support questions using our contact page

     

    Polymash has developed a sound understanding of the hospitality and restaurant markets. 

    We offer clients a state of the art restaurant-app-system that not only delights clientele and patrons with a positive user experience, but also provides a seamless and professional experience for staff as well.  This is achieved through an holistic product, integrating advanced features such as food ordering, reservation systems and dynamic restaurant menus and more.

    What facilitates retention and reuse rate for apps?  Good utility, usability and distraction.  So you want customers to come back to your app because it’s a good experience: it provides a service and/or information, it is easy to use and when they are hungry or looking for a favorite restaurant they choose yours.  The presentation of your content is extremely important and the features make their experience engaging and useful.  An existing website does not morph into a great mobile app!

    It’s not enough that we build products that function, that are understandable and usable, we also need to build products that bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, and yes, beauty to people’s lives.” – Don Norman

    [button link=”http://www.restaurant-app-system.com” type=”big” color=”orange” icon=”notice”]Visit the Restaurant App System![/button]

    The Conference App System is a complete conference app package and includes front and back-end features that make it an invaluable mobile companion to large conferences, expos and events. Watch the demo video or explore the system’s features in more detail on our special conference app system portal site.

    [button link=”http://www.conference-app-system.com” type=”big” color=”orange” icon=”notice”]Visit the Conference App System![/button]

    While it may seem like a good idea to just turn your eBook or pdf into an app with minimal tweaking, think again.

    True, it can be a faster and cheaper way to get into the app store and/or onto your customer’s Newstand shelf (we talked about this in Put Yourself on the Shelf), but there’s a possible cost associated with such an approach.  Of course it depends on your objective for being in the app store, but if high visibility and sustainability are important to you,  then quality matters.

    As Adage.com reports “Magazine and newspaper apps’ quality seems to be the most important factor in their success with consumers, according to the first annual “The State of the App” report from McPheters & Company’s iMonitor service, drawing on iMonitor’s evaluations of 3,000 apps from publishers around the world.

    Findings from our Polymash survey of mobile usage among professionals validate the same response:  quality comes out on top of what users value most in apps.

    Moreover, iPad owners are a pretty sophisticated and tech saavy bunch which translates into high expectations when it comes to the apps they choose to download.  These customers naturally expect to see a certain level of design elegance rub off when you move your content to an iPad.  If they don’t, they are likely to be disappointed and may never come back.

    Apple Store Approval does not Necessarily = A Quality App

    It is surprising, given Apple’s standards, that apps amounting to little more than conversions or a wrapper with a bunch of files that looks no more sophisticated than the contents of a file folder manage to slip through the app review process.

    So just because you made it through Apple’s gatekeepers doesn’t mean your app will satisfy the expectations of tablet or smart phone users.

    Quality Content Deserves Quality Design

    Besides, if you have high quality content why not present it in a high quality way?

    There was a time when great words on a page were enough to reach people.  Yet in today’s fast paced world with short attention spans words alone may not be enough to get your message across and keep people coming back for more.

    The iOS devices showed us communication and design are inextricably linked.

    How are you leveraging the best of the communication tools and technologies available today to communicate in a way that maximizes the impact of your ideas and your words?

    For a free consultation on how you can transform you rcontent into an exceptional experience on mobile devices and take your place in the app marketplace contact us.

    To follow our posts via your RSS reader click here.

    Tag Archive for: IPhone