The choice of the right software development company is tough. Will the vendor you choose just bash out some code and disappear in the steppes of Asia, or will they become your greatest ally in an uncertain market? How to make sure the reality is closer to the latter option than former?
The main goal is to search for a partner, not a vendor. Outsourcing is not about getting the cheapest quote on your order, but about building a useful relationship that will serve you in the future.
How to find the right partner then? Here are 4 tips for making the fateful choice:
Define your needs and goals
Proper initiation can make or break a project.
Once you have a breakthrough idea, it is easy to zero in on a few features, technologies, solutions. If everybody else is doing a simple blockchain in Java, or, god forbid, Python or Ruby, you might think you need one as well.
Furthermore, if you get unlucky with your software development team, they will just nod their heads in unison and agree.
We believe it is important to look at the big picture and question the job-to-be-done of your solution. If you communicate your high-level needs to partners, you enable them to research and find individual solutions in their fields of expertise that fit your needs better than “the next best thing”.
Once you have agreed with your future software team, make sure to work with them to draft comprehensive requirements that will help you both to understand each other better and communicate the work that should be done.
Choose quality over price
The cheapest option in the market usually isn’t the best choice. If you buy cheaply, you pay dearly. In software, these costs usually come as bugs, crashes, and a mismatch between your (and your customer’s) needs and the solution.
Of course, you need to choose the quality level that is suitable for your project, but every software development company you hire should use proper processes, have a dedicated QA team, and, preferably, use DevOps and guarantee maintenance. Modern business environment and users demand that things don’t break, and if they do, they should be fixed instantly.
If your project concerns handling large amounts of money (fintech, cryptocurrencies) or health of others (biotech), it is worthy to look into additional quality assurance for your software – look for software companies that use functional programming (benefits: reliable, more secure and easier maintainable code) and formal verification.
Keep up to date with technology
The winds of the future are uncertain, and the technologies change with every breeze. Still, it is important to sense where the tech is going and choose the correct solutions ahead of the market. Otherwise, you risk being outdated in the fast-moving, cutthroat markets of today.
For example, Rust has been voted as the most loved programming language between developers in 2016 and 2019. If you want to get the best new talent in the market, having your project in Rust is a wonderful way to attract them. (In addition to other benefits.)
If you choose the correct development partner, they should be able to communicate their programming language and solution choices to you, explain the reasons underneath and make sure the choices match your individual needs.
Choose a reliable developer
Choose a partner that can support your long-term growth and help you with infrastructure and maintenance of the code.
Once your project takes hold, it is most likely that it will need to scale. For this reason, you need to select a software development company that can provide for a diverse set of needs, prevent any bottlenecks, and, if necessary, extend their operations to offer personal service just for you.
Furthermore, software projects are always in a state of continuous improvement. Pick the company that won’t disappear after finishing the project because your software will need maintenance, improvements to accustom your shifting needs and those of the market.
The world of smartphones is pretty exciting with constant changes in their landscape. With the arrival of a new device every week, the scope of these life-changing devices seems to be never-ending. Along with the evolving changes in smartphones, we’re also bombarded with several applications. Whether you want to book a taxi or purchase a rug, there’s a mobile application available for every purpose.
If you’re a budding entrepreneur with an innovative and developing app idea and are looking to make billions, you’ve surely found a sweet spot. Let’s take a look at the detailed guide to build a billion-dollar application.
How to Build a Billion Dollar App?
1. Building a team and raising funds
If you have a revolutionary idea to build next million dollar app that you believe will be loved by millions of people, the first thing you should do is test your great idea for an app by stating it on a paper and getting feedback from the public. Figure out a problem, a solution, and translate it into an application.
Whether you use paper or photoshop, make sure your billion dollar business idea can be easily communicated and explained to others. Once you’ve made a great design, make a prototype out of it. As soon as your app gets into users’ hands, you can start getting feedback.
To start building a team, all you need to do is find people who share the same vision as you and have the required skills to make your dream achievable. Recruitment will be a game-changing task, and you must do everything to get skilled and enjoyable people on board.
Ask your friends, family, and even your enemies to download and use your app – and provide brutally honest feedback. Analyze your targeted audience and brainstorm different routes to reach them and use your application.
2. Capturing the product market
As of now, you should have a prototype ready and used by people. If you have a simple business model such as gaming, you may consider releasing the first version of your app startup idea on the app stores. Otherwise, for a complicated model, you need investment for further development.
At this point, the only thing you should care about is achieving a solid product-market fit and making sure people love your app up to an extent where they’re willing to pay for it. Keep developing a reliable user acquisition strategy.
You also need to determine the cost of acquiring a user and how you can make it profitable. The billion dollar app idea that started as a basic model will evolve quickly now, and you need to keep validating it by testing, measuring, and analyzing with users.
Although it may be hard to make an app that people love and pay for, you must keep patience and perseverance. Once you’ve gone through this stage of hardship, the valuation of your app should be on an average near $10 million.
3. Generating revenue streams
Now when you’ve achieved product-market fit and have an app ready that users love, your aim should be to keep growing and achieving traction by improving all the aspects of your app and figuring out how to monetize it and generate revenue.
If you have a gaming, eCommerce, or marketplace business model, you’ve already convinced users to pay for your app. All you need to do now is improve the lifetime value of your app by holding and retaining users along with keen increments in your margins.
In addition to providing a satisfying user experience, you also need to work your way to optimize the price points and lower the cost of customer acquisition. Keep adding new features and revenue streams to your app without compromising on usability.
By this time, you should also land your first investor, and finally join the big bulls. This also means you should have at least a million dollars or more in your bank account, depending on your negotiation skills and traction.
4. Scaling like crazy
After signing your first investor, you continue gaining great reviews about your app and have a clear process to address user feedback. Your team also continues to grow at an enormous rate, and you may even hit a hundred people or even more.
Moreover, your user base should also be growing steadily and the user-retention strategy should be in place. As you reach this stage, you’ll notice that user acquisition has become predictable and systematic, along with the drowning cost of acquiring new users.
Your company is also becoming increasingly profitable and revenues are growing at an exponential rate. This calls for the need to constantly look for product innovations and introduce more revenue streams in your business.
Talking about the valuation of your app, everything seems to be different and you’ll no longer be treated as a startup. You’re now an established company with a very complex valuation based on your financial performance and uniqueness.
5. The big billions
While you keep making constant progressions in the app and follow the momentum, you also need to have a clearly defined vision for your product with practical and systematic steps to realize it. The core mantra is to keep your users happy and satisfied with your app.
The business model at this point also requires to be tuned constantly, and even small fractional improvements can yield big profits. The valuations will still be complex and you must keep a keen eye on your profits, growth, and products.
How Much Does It Cost To Build An App?
Prior to leaping directly into the cost, first of all else, you need to choose the niche of the application and its features. The prerequisite of the overall population or the demand of the user ought to be profoundly understood, and a thorough thought should be given to respond to various inquiries.
Features and functionality
Knowing the cost of development is an ideal opportunity to find what features impact the intricacy of the entire application. Execution of certain features can be a lengthy process, while others are moderately short and simple. Based upon the complexity of solutions, mobile app developers need to utilize third-party API or code from the scratch. Less complex solutions, thus, require standard instruments and connect with native features.
Product design
Making a special UI design is a complicated process that produces extra cost to your task. The less expensive variation suggests utilizing OS-provided things and building screens of standard components. The quantity of screen is likewise a deciding variable. Thus, cost strategies and models need to be decided before implementing any decision.
Number of platforms
It is obvious that you need to make a decision on which platform to begin from. Making a decision for the platform is the most significant and difference making character for creating mobile applications. These platforms take over various programming languages, have diverse SDKs and use distinctive development tools. Thus, the cost varies differently if one has to develop on iOS or Android.
Backend infrastructure
When it comes to mobile app development, backend is normally an OS that provides developers with APIs to have a data trade between an application and a database. To follow user activity and access the performance of your consumer application, it is outfitted with examination. Depending on the quantity of parameters you will track and how detailed and specific the tracking will be, expenses vary.
App administration
The organization board is unquestionably an extremely helpful tool for dealing with application content, customers, and statistics. There are alternatives to adopt existing admin panel formats for your necessities, yet tracking down a good one is an issue. So it makes sense to create a satisfactory board to meet your business prerequisites.
Location and structure of team
The location of your application development team is a crucial factor affecting the product’s last cost. The expense of making an application in the US will contrast from the expense of mobile app development services in Europe or other different areas. If you want, you can opt for companies in your area like mobile app development company in USA if you live in the US or any other area where you reside. But you have to be careful while choosing a company or developer to get quality results.
Summing Up
Today, billions of people across the world are using smartphones and their applications daily. Moreover, in a few years, the figures will simply multiply themselves, and that’s because technology has never been so accessible and powerful before. People are making the most to develop a billion dollar app and get the best idea to satisfy customers.
Mobile phones have contributed immensely to the progression of technological advancements. They’re no longer simple communication devices; they’re serving a pivotal role in business, entertainment, communication, and routine tasks of daily life. All this is possible because of mobile application. In the current era, we can easily find an app for every purpose – business, medical assistance, booking a ticket, paying online, games, education, cooking, shopping, or anything. You name it, and they have it. These apps help users from managing daily tasks to planning significant events; they also help promote business and ease communication between sellers and consumers.
The real problem
The real problem here is that users often don’t know what exactly they want. They are not aware of the concept of good application design, except the ones having slight knowledge of designing. One would never hear users praising the excellent design of an application; however, a poorly designed or poorly performing app would stick out like a sore thumb. So for a designer and a developer, the goal is to come up with an “unnoticeable design.”
On that note, let’s take a look at some of the most common mobile app design mistakes. That designers make, which causes an app to become negatively noticed by users.
Top mobile app design mistakes
1. A Poor First Impression
The first look and appeal of an app are critical to attracting a potential user. A user makes a perception about the features and working of an application with his first experience of using it. If something seems confusing or dull, the user might not even give it a second try. Thus, the App Development Company must create an engaging first impression with a user-friendly UI.
Displaying relevant information on the first screen is very important. All the necessary icons like login, logout, the home page, help section, contact information, or any other important features should have their icons on the very first screen. Whatever the app is related to, its key functionalities should be reachable without any complexity.
Other than that, one prime factor that contributes to an excellent first impression is an app’s loading time. If it takes too much time to open the app or load any key feature, users get bored and lose interest. Thirdly, the colour scheme of an app should also align with its purpose. For example, an app used for professional purposes should not have a funky colour scheme, and entertainment-related apps should not be dull or boring. Colours should be bright and solid, or the users might get bored and have a terrible first experience.
2. Poor Information Architecture (IA)
Most designers don’t spend enough time to design a proper information infrastructure for their app. That means the app should have easy access to information; this involves analyzing the most used or required features by users and making them visible in front. This concept is called “Prioritizing based on popularity.”
If you are developing an app with an already existing idea, it would be easier for you to identify the user’s priority by doing a little research. But if you are developing an app for a new business idea, you might not be aware of what users like most. So a designer should be capable of identifying this through his wisdom and experience, or they can release a prototype of the app and collect feedback from users. After that, they can implement the changes in their next release or update.
3. Lack of Design Consistency
Having a consistent design is a significant factor in designing an app’s UI. That means the font type should be the same within the whole app, the layout should be subtle, all icons should be placed correctly, and changing screens should change the visuals. Also, the text should be readable throughout the application.
Maintaining consistency throughout the app is the real trick for a designer. If needed, a little bit of inconsistency can be entertained if appropriately done; for example, highlighting some text or image, placing a great animation or advertisement. But these changes should align with the context of the app. Having a consistent design prevents users from getting confused and help in enhancing their experience.
4. Ambiguous CTA Positioning
“Call To Action” buttons are placed on websites and apps to help and prompt users to take the next step. The positioning of CTAs on webpages not only affects lead capture for businesses but also directly impacts the user experience. To take full advantage of these buttons, designers must ensure that they correctly place them on the screen, and all their aspects are clearly defined. The action of these buttons is mostly mentioned through text placed strategically on them. Care should be taken to make the CTA text as clear and understandable for the user as possible.
5. Too Many Features
Having too many features within a single app is also not a suggested practice. It could make your app slow and congested, and it affects the overall performance of your app. It causes:
Complexity
A slow loading UI
Both of these issues could cause you the loss of potential users instantly. So it is best to have fewer features and serve them correctly. If having too many features is the requirement of your business, you can primarily offer a version with basic and primary functionality to gain the trust of users, and later, you can include new features in future updates.
6. Absence of Default Values
Default values can save noteworthy client exertion in dull assignments, for example, filling in a similar form multiple times. Recognizing key values for form fields can build profitability and decrease annoyance. Your analytics can assist you with the comprehension if there is a most frequently picked choice for a particular field.
Specifically, dropdown menus profit by a relevant default. Numerous applications give “Choose One” as the default decision, compelling each client to communicate with the dropdown and select a value. On the contrary, if you preselect one value (the most used one), probably a few clients won’t need to associate with that dropdown at all.
7. Excessive use of Modals
Numerous applications utilize modal windows to execute communications with information — altering a current thing, including another item, erasing, or in any event, perusing extra insights regarding an item. Modals show up over the current page and the background content is normally darkened (under the presumption that diminishing will decrease interruptions and assist clients with concentrating on the current task). Sadly, this design lessens the options for clients by concealing data that they may wish to allude to while filling the form. (Note that, regardless of whether the concealed window doesn’t contain data required for the editing, clients frequently endeavour to use the work they’ve done beforehand, by copying and pasting past sources of info.)
8. Irrelevant Information
Long series of letters and digits, for example, consequently produced IDs in a database are as often used to exceptionally distinguish an item in an application. These strings are totally insignificant to clients, yet they are frequently shown as the primary section of a table, compelling individuals to check past that first segment to discover the data that they care about. While these good for nothing lists are significant towards the backend, they aren’t supposed to be shown to the users. Particularly in high–data density screens, give some comprehensible data as the primary stay point and push the IDs to a less visible position.
Why do users uninstall mobile apps?
According to statistics, more than 91 billion apps were downloaded from Android and iOS app stores in 2017. It counts 13 apps per person on the entire planet. These stats have only increased since then, and users are getting dependent on these automated solutions. But it does not end here; research also shows that on average, users delete and app within 90 days of its download. Most apps are not opened more than two or three times within 30 days of downloading and are deleted without serving their purpose. The reason behind this is not the user. Users don’t download apps with the intention of not using them. Other factors frustrate them, and they get rid of apps. These factors mostly include poor performance and intricate app design. When an app doesn’t meet the user’s expectations, they switch to another one. And that’s because all that matters is comfort and ease for them.
That is why, while developing an application, it is essential to pay ample attention to its UI design. The goal should be to keep it as simple as possible, the colours should be soft and pleasant to the eyes, and the performance should be up to the mark. That would make an app popular among its users.
CONCLUSION
Despite the fact that the field of mobile application designing has progressed significantly from its initial arrangement, 2020 is expected to see an extraordinary increase in the number of both great and terrible applications. Indeed, even the apps which make it in 2020, there’s no assurance they will cut in 2021. It’s all about steady change. Designers need to continue updating their knowledge about user patterns and the user-psychology that drives these practices. The most important thing to be taken care of while designing an app is to think from a user’s perspective. Don’t choose or reject a colour, font, or design because you like or dislike it. Instead, research and go for what is trending. You can experiment by adding new things to your app to avoid mobile app design mistakes, but changing the whole designing rules is not recommended. It confuses users as they might have got along with the traditional practices, and your experiment could prove to be a big disaster. What works for others will undoubtedly work for you too.
Every day, we come across different types of computer software that helps us with our tasks and increase our efficiency. From MS Windows that greets us when we switch on the system to the web browser that is used to surf the internet or the games that we play on our computer to the calorie burn counter on our smartphone, are all examples of software. In this world of technology, we even come across various software development trends that help our business to grow, we are surrounded by all these software that are determined to make our lives easier. By definition, Software (also abbreviated as an SW or S/W) is a collection of data, programs, procedures, instructions, and documentation that perform various predefined tasks on a computer system. They enable users to interact with the computer
In the field of software engineering and computer science, the software is nothing but information processed by a computer system and programs. The software includes libraries, programs, and corresponding non-executable data, such as digital media and online documentation. Computer hardware and software need each other and neither one of them can be convincingly used on its own. The amalgamation of the hardware and the software gives control and flexibility to modern-day computing systems. Without software, computers would be of no use. For instance, without the help of your web browser software, you will not be able to surf the Internet. Similarly, without an operating system, no application can run on your computer.
Today there are abundant high-end technologies and software accessible to us that outline the way we lead our lives and house our continuously changing and increasing needs. The endless number of software types can be overwhelming for anybody, especially when one does not understand the various types of software and their users thoroughly.
Different Types of Software
Typically, there are two major classifications of software, namely System Software and Application Software.
1. System Software
A system software aids the user and the hardware to function and interact with each other. Basically, it is a software to manage computer hardware behavior so as to provide basic functionalities that are required by the user. In simple words, we can say that system software is an intermediator or a middle layer between the user and the hardware. These computer software sanction a platform or environment for the other software to work in. This is the reason why system software is very important in managing the entire computer system. When you first turn on the computer, it is the system software that gets initialized and gets loaded in the memory of the system. The system software runs in the background and is not used by the end-users. This is the reason why system software is also known as ‘low-level software’.
Some common system software examples are:
Operating System: It is the most prominent example of System Software. It is a collection of software that handles resources and provides general services for the other applications that run over them. Although each Operating System is different, most of them provide a Graphical User Interface through which a user can manage the files and folders and perform other tasks. Every device, whether a desktop, laptop or mobile phone requires an operating system to provide the basic functionality to it. As an OS essentially determines how a user interacts with the system, therefore many users prefer to use one specific OS for their device. There are various types of operating system such as real-time, embedded, distributed, multiuser, single-user, internet, mobile, and many more. It is important to consider the hardware specifications before choosing an operating system. Some examples of Operating systems given below:
Android
CentOS
iOS
Linux
Mac OS
MS Windows
Ubuntu
Unix
Device Drivers: It is a type of software that controls particular hardware which is attached to the system. Hardware devices that need a driver to connect to a system include displays, sound cards, printers, mice and hard disks. Further, there are two types of device drivers: Kernel Device Drivers and User Device Driver. Some examples of device drivers are:
BIOS Driver
Display Drivers
Motherboard Drivers
Printer Drivers
ROM Drivers
Sound card Driver
USB Drivers
USB Drivers
VGA Drivers
VGA Drivers
Virtual Device Drivers
Firmware:Firmware is the permanent software that is embedded into a read-only memory. It is a set of instructions permanently stored on a hardware device. It provides essential information regarding how the device interacts with other hardware. Firmware can be considered as ‘semi-permanent as it remains permanent unless it is updated using a firmware updater. Some examples of firmware are:
BIOS
Computer Peripherals
Consumer Applications
Embedded Systems
UEFI
Programming Language Translators: These are mediator programs on which software programs rely to translate high-level language code to simpler machine-level code. Besides simplifying the code, the translators also do the following :
Assign data storage
Enlist source code as well as program details
Offer diagnostic reports
Rectify system errors during the runtime
Examples of Programming Language Translators are Interpreter, Compiler and Assemblers.
Utility: Utility software is designed to aid in analyzing, optimizing, configuring, and maintaining a computer system. It supports the computer infrastructure. This software focuses on how an OS functions and then accordingly it decides its trajectory to smoothen the functioning of the system. Softwares like antiviruses, disk cleanup & management tools, compression tools, defragmenters, etc are all utility tools. Some examples of utility tools are:
Avast Antivirus
Directory Opus
McAfee Antivirus
Piriform CCleaner
Razer Cortex
Windows File Explorer
WinRAR
WinZip
2. Application Software
Application Software, also known as end-user programs or productivity programs is software that helps the user in completing tasks such as doing online research, jotting down notes, setting an alarm, designing graphics, keeping an account log, doing calculations or even playing games. They lie above the system software. Unlike system software, they are used by the end-user and are specific in their functionality or tasks and do the job that they are designed to do. For example, a browser is an application designed specifically for browsing the internet, or MS Powerpoint is an application used specifically for making presentations. Application Software or simply apps can also be referred to as non-essential software as their requirement is highly subjective and their absence does not affect the functioning of the system. All the apps that we see on our mobile phones are also examples of Application Software. There is certain software that is exclusively made for app development like Meteor and Flutter. These are examples of Application software too.
There are various types of application software:
Word Processors: These applications for documentation. Along with that it also helps in storing, formatting and printing of these documents. Some examples of word processors are:
Abiword
Apple iWork- Pages
Corel WordPerfect
Google Docs
MS Word
Database Software: This software is used to create and manage a database. It is also known as the Database Management System or DBMS. They help with the organization of data. Some examples of DBMS are:
Clipper
dBase
FileMaker
FoxPro
MS Access
MySQL
Multimedia Software: It is the software that is able to play, create or record images, audio or video files. They are used for video editing, animation, graphics, and image editing, Some examples of Multimedia Software are:
Adobe Photoshop
Inkscape
Media Monkey
Picasa
VLC Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Movie Maker
Education and Reference Software: These types of software are specifically designed to facilitate learning on a particular subject. There are various kinds of tutorial software that fall under this category. They are also termed academic software. Some examples are:
Delta Drawing
GCompris
Jumpstart titles
KidPix
MindPlay
Tux Paint
Graphics Software: As the name suggests, Graphics Software has been devised to work with graphics as it helps the user to edit or make changes in visual data or images. It comprises of picture editors and illustration software. Some examples are:
Adobe Photoshop
Autodesk Maya
Blender
Carrara
CorelDRAW
GIMP
Modo
PaintShop Pro
Web Browsers: These applications are used to browse the internet. They help the user in locating and retrieving data across the web. Some examples of web browsers are:
Google Chrome
Internet Explorer
Microsoft Edge
Mozilla Firefox
Opera
Safari
UC Browser
Other than these, all the software that serves a specific purpose fall under the category of Application Software.
However, there exists one more classification of the software. The software can also be classified based on its availability and sharability.
Freeware software is available without any cost. Any user can download it from the internet and use it without paying any fee. However, freeware does not provide any liberty for modifying the software or charging a fee for its distribution. Examples are:
Adobe Reader
Audacity
ImgBurn
Recuva
Skype
Team Viewer
Yahoo Messenger
2. Shareware
It is software that is freely distributed to users on a trial basis. It usually comes with a time limit and when the time limit expires, the user is asked to pay for the continued services. There are various types of shareware like Adware, Donationware, Nagware, Freemium, and Demoware (Cripplewareand Trialware). Some examples of shareware are:
Adobe Acrobat
Getright
PHP Debugger
Winzip
3. Open-source
These kinds of software are available to users with the source code which means that a user can freely distribute and modify the software and add additional features to the software. Open-Source software can either be free or chargeable. Some examples of open-source software are:
Apache Web Server
GNU Compiler Collection
Moodle
Mozilla Firefox
Thunderbird
4. Software
They are also known as Closed-source software. These types of applications are usually paid and have intellectual property rights or patents over the source code. The use of these is very restricted and usually, the source code is preserved and kept as a secret.
