8 necessary costs of app development (2)

Last time, we introduced the 3 necessary app development costs, in which labour cost and app development time accounted for the largest part of the entire mobile app development price. You can first read the previous article if you haven’t gone through it. This time, we will guide you through the remaining 5 necessary expenses.

4. Risk – mobile app development time

App development cost

Due to the long app development time and high development cost, clients always want to have their own apps in the most favourable way. The app development prices are quite fluctuating in the market. Some may ask, if there are 6 positions in total, can we cut a few positions to reduce the labour cost in the development? Theoretically, it is feasible given your employees all have the above mentioned skills, but is it really possible in reality ?

We never recommend doing so, as the risk associated with the client would grow too big! It is difficult to hire talents who are very all-rounded, even if there is such a case, the salary will not be low. In addition, having 3 people to finish the work of 6 takes up more time. Overall, there is not much difference in the cost between the two options. Instead, as the time for app development process gets longer, the labour cost will become higher accordingly as well, which are all contributing to the app development cost! Moreover, if employees are too overwhelmed with work, it will only lower their performance and productivity, which leads to worse product quality. At the end of the day, it does no good to the whole app development at all!

5. Cost and time of app launching procedure

App development cost

No matter what type of mobile app it is, it needs to be launched so as to be downloaded. Google Play and App Store are app stores for iOS and Android respectively. Before the mobile app is launched, you have to first pay for a developer account. There are different levels of developer accounts and the fee varies based on the level. App Store charges are divided into USD 99 and USD 299, whereas Google Play Store charges USD 25.  

However, there are a lot of procedures involved in the app launch, the time needed is no less than that of app development. Firstly, you need to set up the developer account on the two platforms, submit company or business documents, upload the app code, test and repair the app repeatedly on the corresponding platform. On the other hand, designers need to create an App logo, screenshots for app introduction, basic instructions for how to use the app, etc. After all these, you still need to wait for the two app stores’ approval before getting the app launched. If the launch is being rejected, you may need to start the above procedures all over again. All these can show how long it may take to really launch an app. It is way more than just simply ‘paying’, ‘uploading’, ‘pressing a button’ or ‘waiting for replies’! 

6. Mobile app promotion cost

There are a huge number of apps available in the market, making the competition of the mobile app market super keen. If you want to stand out from all the competitors, you must spend a certain amount of investments on promotion and grab the attention of users effectively. Imagine if you didn’t tell your target audience about your app through advertisements, who would ever go and enter the keywords of your business on App Store or Google Play, find your app, download it, use it for a while without deleting? 

So if you already have a plan for app development, and you’ve already got to know the app development time, price and cost, now it’s time to plan for promotion of your mobile app! The easiest way is to create a private website to strengthen SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and boost SEM ads on Google. This gets your app easily accessible on Search Engine or other browsers, not only it can increase the exposure rate of your app, but also the installation and usage rate. 

7. App maintenance cost

Have you ever received notifications for app updates? The so-called update is actually the maintenance fee for mobile apps. Many people assume that after app development is done, there will be no more follow-ups done, which is a big misconception! In general, when developers include the maintenance fees for 1-2 years in their app quotations. 

The purpose of the maintenance fee is to repair the bugs of mobile apps, and to comply with the latest launch regulations of the two app stores. Plus smartphone models are changing day by day, can you ensure that the apps you have launched are compatible with the newest mobile models or the latest iOS/Android systems? If there is no regular maintenance, your app might be removed from the app store. Therefore, maintenance fees are necessary in order for your app to constantly and securely stay in App Store. 

8. Cloud Server Rental 

The rental cost of Cloud Server is on average about several thousand a year, and it depends on the hardware performance, network traffic, server location and server brand, etc. Those located in Hong Kong will be more expensive because of the land issues, while well-known brands like Amazon (AWS) and Microsoft Azure will generally cost more. 

The advantage of using cloud servers is, you don’t need to hire your own IT staff to monitor its operation, as there are 7/24 IT elites to serve and back you up behind the tech giants. The backup solutions, restoring and IT data security are up-to-date and of sound systems, which will be safer and easier to maintain than having local servers in your own company!

With the manpower, resources, time required, the app development price is definitely reasonable. If you want to understand more about mobile apps, feel free to check out the hashtags of ‘Mobile App’ on social media.  Shall there be any enquiries regarding app development, please contact technine!