Cross-Platform App Development

Challenge of consumers using multiple devices, platforms, operating systems:

While you have been running a business, you are also a user in the pipeline of business operation, so think like one, for a second. 

How frustrating would it be when a particular application that is being raved about in the market and audience base is only available on specific mobile or web platforms?

The mobile/web development world is booming with applications available for our any and every requirement, but not long ago, there was a growing feeling of disappointment in consumer base who could not utilize and benefit from most of the application, being restricted by their mobile platforms. With people using mobile devices functioning in different operating platforms, iOS, Android, Windows, native apps were no longer sufficient, especially not with a business point of view. 

Speaking of, native application development skills are costly and complex to operate. Furthermore, developing an application for one platform can leads to loss of half of the potential customers, which is not acceptable to a business that aims at surviving the cut throat competition. While it is easier for the framework and develop native applications for each mobile/web operating system, the problem cropped from not being able to repurpose code built for one operating system for a different one. The deployment time is of utmost importance to a business, and the traditional application development means, and with a non-reusable code, the time-to-market gets significantly high. 

With the organizations today operating and supporting multiple devices, there is an urgent need to come up with a method that develops application seamlessly across devices and operating systems. Of even more importance is the developers’ ability to design, develop, test, and deploy this on a single integrated platform. This led to the inception of cross-platform application development.

What is a cross-platform app development?

Creating software applications that are compatible with multiple mobile operating devices is cross-platform app development be it Android, iOs. In it, a single app source code is compiled with the native code so that the application can efficiently work on various operating systems. With custom platform mobile development, organizations have the freedom to allocate their resources by building a single app which they can make minor changes as per their requirements. 

Per Comscore data, mobile app utilization is escalating to 87%. The consumers would best utilize the features, the convenience, the self-contained environment, and the brand presence provided by an application and banked upon by the businesses when there is no operating system restriction stuck to it. 

The mobile first approach has to be leveraged upon by the businesses to stay relevant in the market; retain and expand their audience base. Intending to increase the development of glitch-free apps that work efficiently on various types of operating systems and cater to a broader audience, cross-platform app development is the ideal solution for a business to ensure productivity and a strong stand in the market. The compounded annual growth rate of the mobile and advertising marketing signals towards an increasing demand and utilization of cross-platform application development. 

How can cross-platform app development benefit your business?

Aside from being wholly accepted by the developers due to its smooth and agile development process, cross-platform app development offers a multitude of business benefits such as:

  • REUSABLE CODE:

The inability of traditional app development processes to reuse the code is eliminated with the cross-platform framework, where developers no longer have to develop systems again and again since a single code can be reused. This further eliminates the drain of time and resources that go into repeating the task for code creation. 

  • QUICK DEVELOPMENT:

The faster development process with the cross platform functioning makes this framework the preferred choice on a global scale. Since a single source code for multiple platforms can be reused, the time invested in the development process gets significantly reduced, giving developers sufficient time to create a more feature rich business app. 

  • FASTER TIME TO MARKET:

The unified codebase makes it easy for the business to market the app to its target audience at a comparatively quicker rate. With this, the business can jump into the market earlier than expected and gain a competitive edge over others. Furthermore, aside from reduced time to market and quicker deployment, the cross-platform app can be easily customized by doing some minor changes in the single code. This can help your business in escalating customer engagement.  

  • COST EFFECTIVE:

The write once run everywhere concept leads to agile development with cost-effective tools, thereby reducing the cost of development. Cross-platform app development gives businesses the freedom to enhance their presence and customer engagement on multiple platforms with cost-effective means. 

  • CLOUD SPACE INTEGRATION:

The cross-platform mobile app development frameworks come with easy to access plugins simplifying the entire mobile app development process. These plugins, when enabled, enhance the security, authenticity, credibility which comes from a single app, unlike the traditional app development process. Integrating cloud storage for hosting services can help the business gain monetary advantage along with maintaining the integrity of the application. 

  • EASY DEPLOYMENT AND MAINTENANCE:

Since now, you have to develop only a single app for multiple platforms, the deployment of codes, maintenance, and modification becomes comparatively more straightforward. Moreover, if any bug for the issue is found, it has to be fixed only on one app, thereby saving significant time and money, which can be better utilized in productive areas. 

  • NO COMPLEX UPDATES:

Unlike other app development methodologies wherein every user ends up with a different version once the updates are released, with cross-platform app development app are automatically updated to everyone, thereby ensuring everyone has the current version of the application. This allows the business operator to gain a quicker turnaround time and a higher return on investment. 

  • UNIFORMITY:

App development is planned, designed, and structured, keeping in mind the user experience for which implementing user interface elements are of utmost importance. With a cross-platform app development tool, users enjoy a consistent experience across various platforms. 

  • GREATER REACH:

Cross-platform app development makes marketing to a broader audience, a, and hassle-free process. Unlike the native app development wherein the app created caters to a handful audience owing to the limitations by the operating system, cross-platform app development gives the business the access to greater audience reach, thereby expanding the audience base. This escalated the app visibility and its ability to generate revenue. 

Where is cross-platform app development headed to in 2019?

With the number of mobile app downloads increasing year by year, to 197 billion in 2017, per statista’s report and an average person spending 90% of their time on mobile apps over the web, as per emarketer research report, the mobile application landscape is undoubtedly expanding. For a business to be able to take advantage of these escalating number, they can no longer leverage from single platform app development. 

The global market for the cross-platform tool has grown to become a 7.5billion dollar industry in 2018 and is expected to grow further ahead. With its ability to strengthen a business’s performance on both Android as well as iOS, not utilizing cross-platform app development would be missing out on a significant opportunity. 

With Xamarin, Flutter, React Native, PhoneGap, Ionic, taking center stage, it would not be an exaggeration to say that cross-platform app development is not only going to help businesses survive but thrive the competition as well. While Xamarin serves as a robust platform for rapid prototyping and building apps with high performance, the provided design is not the priority for the businesses, React Native proffers faster development time, better redesigning with its proficient With Flutter, developers can build faster apps, have up to date documentation with lesser codes and various open source packages. Cordova’s Phone Gap offers flexibility pertaining to web technologies with a strong backend support while ionic facilitates 98% of code reuse, maximum amongst others. 

Investing in this framework for cost-efficiency, higher return on investment, and lessening the time to market seems the right choice in 2019 and beyond. 

While at the end it all comes down to how profitable the application is and cross-platform app development has its share of few drawbacks, one cannot overlook the advantages that it offers in terms of secure development and proffering the best of various mobile platforms. Ultimately the business decides to invest as per their scale, goals, and objectives. 

Why should you consult itchimes for developing a cross-platform app?

If you have established that cross-platform app development is what aligns with your end goal, then reach out to itchimes platform specific specialists who will make sure that the cross-platform application thus developed caters to your objective of targeting the qualified audience and generate maximum return on investment. We specialize in Xamarin, one of the leading cross-platform app development tools to create a high on performance application, with a simple C programming language, providing quicker time to market and ensuring your app is built ready for the future. 

Reach out to get a quote from our cross platform app development specialist, today!