What Is Meant By Mobile Application Development?

In layman’s terms, mobile application development is a process of building and developing software that operates exclusively on mobile devices.

This is the most precise and understandable definition ever. 

But, it doesn’t mean mobile app development is just limited to building software.

Mobile application development is a long down-out and cumbersome process that can only be performed by skillful and competent mobile app developers.

That being said, mobile app development is not everyone’s job.

Is Mobile App Development A Good Career? What Skills Are Needed To Become A Mobile App Developer?

To become a professional mobile app developer you must need to learn some skills and technical understanding.

Aside from, technical understanding like programming language skills, back-end computing, user interface (UI) design, and QA and Performance Testing. 

You must have a few analytical skills like communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, etc.

As a newbie, you might be wondering if that’s too much if you start today.

Well, certainly it is! But once you become a mobile application developer you can surely enjoy a handsome salary and benefits.

Besides that, by becoming a freelancer you can generate a full-time passive income.

According to indeed, a mobile app developer makes $91,360 per year in the US. That’s almost 32% more than the median U.S. income.

And if you choose to become a freelancer and work 36 hours a week you can earn $114k-$168k/year

Are you wondering how many app developers are there in the US? 

According to the report, there’re 362,190 people employed in the Smartphone App Developers industry in the US as of 2023.

And the numbers are increasing tremendously with each passing day due to the excess demand. 

To manifest our statement here are the official figures.

The demand for the number of developers is expected to increase from 17% to 24% by the year 2026.

So if you’re in a skeptical situation and wondering if mobile app developers are in demand or have a good future or not, then the figures above tell you all.

Is Mobile App Development The Future?

The industry of mobile application development has already touched its sky limit. 

But unlike other industries which descend after being fully exploited, mobile app development will continue to thrive and prosper. 

Estimated growth trajectories predict mobile application development will yield over $600 billion in revenue by 2025.

Below we’ve jotted down 3 reasons why mobile app development is the future.

  1. The advancement in the existing technology and the introduction of modern-day innovation will keep mobile app development alive.
  2. A lot of small businesses don’t have a mobile app yet. But they are looking forward to getting a mobile app. The increasing demand for mobile apps opens the opportunity for mobile app developers. 
  3. Mobile app development has come as a blessing for startups and small businesses –  helping them to stand out and capture users’ attention.

What is Mobile App Development?

Mobile app development or mobile application development both indicates the same development process. 

It’s an umbrella term that covers several development processes including planning, design, coding, testing, and deployment.

Mobile app development focuses on developing software that works solely on smartphones, tablets, and mobile devices. 

The complete development consists of 5 practices including planning, design, coding, deployment, and testing. 

We’ll discuss the five development processes, later in this blog.

The idea of developing a mobile app was to get the most mileage out of the unique features of a specific device.

The website and web application failed to fully exploit the mobile devices. Therefore, the concept of mobile apps was rolled out to satisfy this thing into mind.

To comprehend how mobile apps make full use of device features. We’ve jotted down two real-life examples below.

  1. Mobile apps utilize the features like GPS, Bluetooth, camera, and microphone to offer exceptional user experience.
  2. The fastest and easiest method to reach a business or company.

Read More: Mobile App Vs. Mobile Website: Which Is The Better Option?

What is a Mobile Application Development Platform? 

Before we chew over how many types of mobile application development platforms exist and which one is most suitable for you.

It’s necessary to understand what is a mobile application development platform.

A mobile application platform is also commonly known as an operating system.

The two most prevalent and prominent mobile operating systems are iOS and Android. 

Primarily, a mobile app developer or a development company makes a mobile app for these two platforms only as 99% of the total world population use devices supported by android and iOS.

In the older days, if you had to build a mobile app the only option was to make native apps for both platforms separately. 

That means developers have to code two times for two separate devices. 

Or the other option which wasn’t highly recommended was to do market or audience research and to find out which operating system is most used by your users.

For instance, if you discover that majority of your target customer use android so you just simply go for android leaving the iOS users.

But with the introduction of cross-platform applications, you can make native-like mobile apps from a single code base.

Read More: Benefits of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

What Are The Challenges of Mobile App Development?

It doesn’t really matter how much experience you’re or how strong your programming skills are, challenges and complications do exist and they will make things harder.

Well for an experienced developer getting rid of issues might be easy.

But, there’s one common challenge that most app developers currently face: getting their app recognized and enough downloads.

There’re currently 1.96 million apps available for download from the apple app store and 3.55 million apps from the google play store.

Publishing your app and getting it recognized under such huge figures seems very impractical.

Do you know 99.5% of apps get failed due to various reasons? 

Among them, the biggest reason is a failed marketing strategy – this is also the biggest challenge in mobile application development.

Read More: 7 Crazy Benefits Of Custom Mobile Apps For Business