With billions of smartphone users and almost every service having found its way to mobile apps, we are long past the need to explain the utility of these applications for users as well as businesses. Here we will keep our discussion limited to the latter. Now, to utilize any application, the first thing you need to do is built it- either by yourself or by hiring professional developers for the task.
But before you get to that point, there is a preliminary choice to make- which type of application? Unless you are still living caves (in which case, how are you even reading this!), you must know that the entire mobile market is fragmented into two rival camps- iOS and Android, each running on billions of devices and backed two of the most valuable brands on the planet. An ideal choice would, of course, be to deploy applications on both the platforms but given the resource-intensiveness of app development, it is always preferable to initially test the waters with any one platform.
While here we won’t be delving into explicitly comparing the two platforms, for it deserves a separate discussion, we can at least tell you what you as a business have to gain if you choose to take the iPhone route.
See More: How to Reduce the App Size for iOS
Quicker Time to Market
For the same features and functionality, building an iPhone app takes , as much as 20-30% less time than Android. This means for two businesses exploring the same idea, the one who picks iOS will have a considerable lead over its competitor. And given the immensely large mobile app market, it is almost certain you will definitely be competing against someone.
Less Development Cost
Quicker development cycle converts into lesser billing hours, hence lower cost of the overall app. Now considering that many businesses are initially skeptical of investing in new ventures, lower costs essentially makes you bolder by shifting the balance of risk v/s opportunity in your favor.
Higher Revenues
Despite having a much smaller market share, App Store takes the majority of mobile app revenues home. Some reports have highlighted that on average, an iPhone user spends more than twice as much on applications as their Android counterparts. This clearly indicates that for businesses that need to open up revenue channels from the start, iPhone app is the bet to take.
Less Maintenance Overhead
Here is a typical scenario that Android developers are accustomed to- they launch a new application that works perfectly well. Then within months, half a dozen OEMs come out with dozens of new handsets- all different kinds of hardware configurations and software customization. As a result, the app begins to break and developers have to rush to fix it.
While the perceptual cycle of release and maintenance runs in iPhone application development as well, it is far less chaotic and by extension, hectic. There are just around 4-5 iPhone variants and a similar number of iOS versions in the market at any point, with major releases coming only once a year. This gives developers ample breathing room for any productive tasks rather than keeping them fixated on compatibility issues.
Cleaner Market
You may be aware of the extreme vetting that Apple does for each of the submissions as your application doesn’t have to pass any algorithms but actual human reviewers. While this method is often criticized by some for the delays and a large number of rejections, the positive side is that once your app goes live, it doesn’t get buried under a large number of mediocre apps. This is especially relevant if you are running with a minimal marketing budget and do not have enough resources to cut through such noise.
