How Do I Know If Hybrid Mobile App Development is Right for My Business?
If you want to understand why mobile app development is important, consider this: Mobile applications allow your business to expand its market and competitive advantage and ensure customer satisfaction. But how do you decide whether hybrid mobile application development is the right way to go?
‘If you are choosing an expert IT partner to help you with your project, be sure you have a comprehensive understanding of your requirements and your customer needs before you select your partner.’
Even if your business provides its team members with an Android or iPhone device, that user is likely to have more than one device and those devices may not use the same operating system. If you are designing a mobile app for the consumer market, you will certainly want to consider the hybrid mobile app approach in order to expand your market reach to both the Android and iOS operating system and device market.
According to Statista, there are more than 3.5 million apps available on Google Play Store and more than 1.6 million apps available on the Apple App Store. So, how do you get in on the action?
As with any software or technology project, the decision to take a particular approach should be based on your requirements, your target audience and your market.
Here are a few of the factors you should consider, before choosing the hybrid mobile app development approach for your project.
Requirements – Does your project lend itself to hybrid mobile app development vs. native mobile app development? What are the features and functionality you require? You will need to develop a detailed feature set and have a good understanding of how the native vs. hybrid approach will impact your ability to meet these requirements. Work with your IT partner to determine whether the hybrid mobile app approach is best for your business needs.
Target Audience/Users – Who will be using your solution? Do you have a good understanding of what they expect and want and an understanding of their skills and buying or user adoption behavior? If you don’t know who will be using your hybrid mobile app, how they will be using it, or whether they are likely to adopt your solution based on gaps in the market, competitive strategies and your own branding and market position, you should gather this research. It will inform which approach you take and how your development team chooses to address your users to provide the right user experience (Ux) and user interface (UI).
Upgrades, Development, Time to Market – What is your expected schedule? Is it reasonable to expect that you can complete your project using the hybrid mobile app approach? What is your time-to-market estimate? Do you have a plan for upgrades and a roadmap to get your product to its completion? Does this roadmap involve more than one major release?
Devices, Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) and Operating System Considerations – Does your market strategy involve compliance with Android AND iOS? If so, are you better served to take the hybrid mobile application approach or are you considering the development of your solution in both native operating systems (OS)? If so, have you planned for the extra resources, training, expenses and time to complete two separate versions of your application? If yours is a business application, do you have a bring-your-own device (BYOD) environment where you will be required to comply with both Android and iOS? What market advantages can you enjoy by creating a hybrid mobile app that is suitable for both operating systems?
Budget, Schedule, Resources – Once you have an idea of your requirements, your market and your needs, you must carefully plan your budget, and lay out a reasonable schedule for completion and launch. Will you use in-house resources to develop and launch your solution? If so, are you certain that you have the right training and skills to choose the best hybrid app development platform, hybrid mobile app development frameworks, and tools and languages, and to execute the project on-time, and perform maintenance, bug fixes and upgrades? If you are choosing an expert IT partner to help you with your project, be sure you have a comprehensive understanding of your requirements and your customer needs before you select your partner. This will help you and your chosen IT consultant to develop and execute a strategy.
‘If you are designing a mobile app, you will certainly want to consider the hybrid mobile app approach in order to expand your market reach to both the Android and iOS operating system and device market.’
Find out if Hybrid Mobile Application Development is right for your mobile app and/or smart watch project, and Build Your Software Team with dedicated resources. Discover the benefits and components of mobile application development technology, and the hybrid mobile app development environment, with these complementary articles: ‘Mobile App Development is Important to Business, So Are Mobile App Programmers,’ ‘What are the Pros and Cons of Flutter Programming?.’
