You may have heard that you can do it yourself.
Or, that you need to hire someone with a background in Objective-C.
Or Java.
You might not know if your project is simple, complex, or what skills it will take for someone to turn your app idea into a product ready to launch.
But, what you’re really wondering is: “What are my options for mobile app development and what are the pluses and minuses of each option.”
Well perfect, below i’ll describe some options that you have available to you:
1. Use a Do-It-Yourself Site
If the app you have in mind is a very simple standard cookie-cutter app, using a do-it-yourself app creation tool can be a cheap method. If you’re looking to create an app for your business (say, an equivalent of a Yelp webpage) and not a business out of your application then this option might be a good fit for you.
Many of the do it yourself sites like Como or AppMakr target the small business owner, blogger, etc. as a tool to market themselves. These different tools can be beneficial if you’re looking for a cheap way to get an app created and don’t really care too much about design or functionality. These apps often look templatized. It is unlikely you have installed one on your phone that was built this way.
2. Hire An Individual Developer
If you’re looking to create a business out of your application and not an application for your business then you’ll either want to go with option 2 or option 3. Hiring an individual developer has it’s benefits and drawbacks.
The toughest part of hiring an individual is going to be finding a developer that has the skill set needed for your technical challenge and finding someone that you trust to deliver you a completed product. That being said, hiring an individual developer is typically cheaper than hiring a development team but you have to consider what the cost is going to be at end of the project vs. what the upfront quote is.
If you hire an individual developer, you might need to hire several contractors to get a completed project. For example, the developer is unlikely to be also a designer. So you would have to hire a designer to do the initial design work before you could give it to the developer to code. And you’ll need to know enough about mobile to be able to coordinate between the different experts you will hire. For more information on the various phases in the app development process see “The Process of Creating a Mobile App Explained.”
3. Hire a development team
Hiring a development team to create your mobile app also has it’s benefits and drawbacks.
The benefits are that typically if you hire a team to create your mobile app that you’ll have a designer, developer and testing team all assigned to your project who have worked together on multiple projects before. Also, for more complex apps or more technical projects there are usually developers with multiple skills sets available to work on your project. For example, even for a simple messenger-like app, your team will need an iOS engineer, an Android engineer and a back-end engineer, who are typically different people.
Sometimes, this can be a more costly option due to the turn-key nature of the service. However, if you work with a good team, your chances of success may be higher than the other two options.
Finding the right team for your project whether you choose option 2 or 3 is always going to be your biggest challenge. Before you engage a developer here are some things that you should know: Questions to Ask When Hiring a Developer
