You can belong to either of the two category of businessmen and still reap good profits: The ones who decide execution based on cost of development or the ones who place the product as “Before Anything Else”. However, if you identify with the latter, success and profits are a sure shot thing irrespective of whatever hurdles you may face. Those that are willing to have their ideas executed at whatever cost and have a sense of desperation for building their product, as much as they want to breathe, generally find ways to do so irrespective of the resources available to them.

Nevertheless, in case of mobile app ventures, knowing the costs involved at the ideation stage helps in informed decision making for Version 1.0 or the go-to-market strategy.

As businessmen, you sure understand that mobile applications are fast growing and powerful channel of traffic, and boosting advertising, sales and overall growth. Ans sure, your decision to harness this growth potential of mobile applications is a smart one. However, it is not an inexpensive route, as it may seem. Whether you are outsourcing your mobile app development or building it in house, it is imperative that you understand the aspects that influence the overall costs of development in order to enjoy the best return on investment.

1. Complexity of business logic
The level of complexity of each mobile application varies based on the algorithms at the backend that enhance user experience. This also affects the range of costs for implementation of the business logic.One that has more intricate logic will definitely be more expensive to build.

2. Devices and OS
If you have control over which devices your app will be used on i.e an app built for internal users, it will be a less expensive deal as compared to one in external environment where the app has to function across multiple devices and platforms. First you need to focus on what OS you will make your initial app function and later during the development stage you can decide on how to support cross platform app functionality.

3. Backend vs. native
If your app requires a backend, as compared to native, your costs will be significantly increased. This is because another resource has been added to the project as there are web based programming skills required for the same. Also, the efforts taken to build a backend are dependent on the complexity of features that need backend access.
Confused as to when should you need a backend: The simplest example is of a case where you want a user to signup to use your mobile app. A backend will be required to store all user-related information.
Another example of a complex backend will be when you need social network fundamentals like connecting two users, sharing data etc. In such a case, apart from development cost, cloud hosting costs must also be considered.

4. Content management
A further addition to the costs will be a CMS. Cases are such where the mobile app requires frequent update of content that has to be managed by someone. Different stakeholders can also add their content from their backend through CMS. E-commerce websites are an ideal example of this.

5. User authentication
This holds special consideration in enterprise applications. If you are building a secure app, the development cost will be much more. An enterprise application generally requires user login with secure access and integration channel into the business’ LDAP. To ensure this seamless integration, effort and cooperation is required between the app development team and the enterprise system development team.

6. Social features
Social media integration will increase the cost of development quite significantly. Moreover it is imperative that you determine what features you want and are they even required in the initial version of your app? Are you looking at connecting people for sharing data? Which approach would you prefer: follow or friend request? Do you want them to see the content or perform actions like share, comment etc? All these require different levels of efforts.

7. Integration with Enterprise systems / Third party integrations
If you are building a stand alone mobile application that will not require central business logic, the cost will be lower and limited to app development only. However, those applications with third party integrations such as enterprise systems corporate access etc. involve development costs that are extended to enterprise web services & data access, third party APIs or other integration tools and host system app modifications.
It’s better to consult enterprise architects before delving into these decisions. They will analyse your requirements and maturity of your infrastructure.

8. App distribution
Different distribution channels for app deployment have different costs. Commercial ones like Google Play charge close to $100 for developer license costs. Moreover there are approvals required by the hosts to ensure security policies and standards are met.

9. Custom add-ons
Revenue and traffic generating tools are a must for customer centric applications. They enhance the UX and boost ROI. Some of them , apart from Social media integration mentioned above are:
In app purchases: A method pf making users purchase more content or a complete version of the mobile application. All in all, it raises development costs by $1000 to $3000.
Web services that help you make changes to your content from a remote access through XML files. It saves significant amount of costs by cutting code rewrites when you need to update. This add on will however cost you between $2000 and $5000, depending on your requirement.

10. After app deployment
User feedback generally involves problems, suggestions and enhancement requests, which means that the development costs have not ended with deployment. Retaining the development team after app deployment is a must. That however, is another mode of cost. However you cannot do anything about it as responding to feedback channels is essential to avoid churn.

Conclusion: With the basic understanding of the cost factors associated with mobile app development, we are sure you will make informed cost related decisions and develop a comprehensive mobile strategy to capitalize on the power of mobile app technology.

About the Author: As An App developer and computer programmer of Xicom Technologies Ltd.- Android Application Development, Amanda Cline explains why you need responsive design for Successful Ecommerce Business. Technology intrigues me and this is why I like to read and write about and Custom Software Development.