The Mobile App Trends Series is supported by Sourcebits, a leading product developer for mobile platforms. Sourcebits offers design and development services for iOS, Android, Mobile and Web platforms. Follow Sourcebits on Twitter for recent news and updates.
Mobile development has come a long way in the past few years. But as technology continues to introduce new and more innovating products at a rapid pace, there's room for many developers to make huge mistakes along the way -- ones that could jeopardize their product or even their entire business.
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"I think that you can screw up five times before you get up in the morning, in ways that you never even thought of," says Josh Koppel, CCO and co-founder of ScrollMotion. "It's a dicey business sometimes to try something new, but the truth is, it's the mistakes that help you actually learn stuff. "
We spoke with four leaders in mobile app development about the common issues developers often face when create a new product. Here are some things to keep in mind.
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Android or iOS?
A common issue developers run into is deciding which operating system to run first: Android or iOS. Developers should think about the audience the app is meant for when making a decision.
"I would never say you have to launch on iOS, but you need to think about what the app needs to do and which platform is going to help you deliver on the value prop that you want to give consumers," says Kevin Nakao, president and COO at White Pages, Inc.
According to Nakao, the advantage to Android is its openness.
"We launched our Caller ID app on Android first because it provided access to the APIs needed to provide this feature, compared to iOS, which doesn?t provide this developer access," says Nakao.
On the other hand, many developers feel that Android has so many different versions of its operating system that deciding which version to build for can be complicated.
"The Android Market is fragmented, and when we're developing that becomes an issue. No two devices on the Android are necessarily the same, so you have to start thinking from a design and front-end angle, 'Well okay, this one has a different screen ratio and which ones are we going to release on?' Whereas with iOS, you can just release on one," says Ronaldo Garcia, head of technical production for ScrollMotion.
Testing the Waters With Your App
According to Nakao, one of the best things developers can do before starting with an app is to not build one -- rather, instead start out with a mobile website.
"You can still do a mobile application. Just start with a mobile website first so you can learn about the design, functionality and user experience needed before building an app. The downside of an app is that the consumer has to upgrade to get new versions, while a mobile website can simply be updated," says Nakao.
If you do decide to go through with an app, Koppel says there is no such thing as testing your product too much.
"Test your app outside of your office. If your app has anything to do with receiving information remotely, test it in different places around the city: in subways, in a lot of different conditions. Just make sure your developers get outside of their offices," says Koppel.
Once your product has been tested, another important thing that developers need to do is stay focused.
"Make sure that your client or you haven't changed any pieces before the thing goes live," says Garcia. "Make sure that the developer and environment that you're pulling your stuff in both front-end and back-end is not experiencing any kind of changes. Lock everything down when you go into Quality Assurance (QA). And then once it gets approved by QA, you stay on that lockdown. That's really, really important and we try to stress that to our clients."
Discovery of Your App
Before your app has launched, two important things to think about are marketing and consumer discovery -- how users will find your app.
"It is very important to determine what category you want to place your app in as well as the keywords you use to describe your app. There is a great service called mobiledevvhq.com, which provides tools for "App Store Optimization," and a lot of intelligence and data-driven analysis to help you determine the keywords for the category and apps will compete against," says Nakao.
Koppel stresses the importance of never jumping the gun on marketing for your app.
"Never send out a press release until the app is in the store and tested," says Koppel. "I can't tell you how many times I've seen press release go out before an app is even approved, and that makes it disappointing for everybody. "
Pleasing the Customers
"When you are subsisting off of a trickle of customers, their support emails and feature requests are difficult to ignore, so you start thinking about features to add in the next update," says Phill Ryu, CEO and co-founder of Impending, and co-creator of Clear for iPhone.
Ryu says this plan of action is usually a bad idea, because adding an extra feature that might add value for 30% of your users is going to, in turn, take away value for the 70%.
"Your user has no idea what they're supposed to do when they open your app, because your app has become a laundry list of things they don't really need to do," says Ryu
At the same time, Koppel says it's important to understand that anyone can write a review, but that you need to listen closely to what your customers are saying.
"I believe that you're going to hear more about what's wrong with your app from a customer review than you are from your QA group, because they're actually using the thing," says Koppel. "If you're hearing the same thing over and over in reviews, you have to listen and you have to adjust if you want to have customers."
Development and Design
We asked these leaders in app development their thoughts on collaboration between designers and developers. It was a topic all felt strongly about. Here are a few things they advise you to consider:
"Getting the user-flows and interactions designed before you get busy with the actual development sounds obvious, but the decisions made at the design stage can ultimately determine your app's success or failure. That's not to say that crashes can be excused, but to dive in before you've refined (or finished) the app's design would be reckless."
- Nik Fletcher, product manager at Realmac Software
"We are very adamant that every project needs one person from each team, from the very beginning to the very end. We've even physically moved them in the office so that they can just roll over to the other person's desk. The quality of apps improves by hoards of magnitude when you have them solving the problem together, not separately. It's something that has to happen, and if it doesn't happen that way, you're doing something wrong."
- Ronaldo Garcia, head of technical production for ScrollMotion
"I personally like to start with the design first. In the very beginning of iPhone [app] development, I met with their head of developer relations who emphasized the importance of design in their own product development. Apple was not the first company to provide a mobile OS, apps, or a browsing experience -- but it established an inflection point with the improvement in the design and user experience, making mobile an easy and fun experience."
- Kevin Nakao, President and COO for White Pages, Inc
Series supported by Sourcebits
The Mobile App Trends Series is supported by Sourcebits, a leading developer of applications and games for all major mobile platforms. Sourcebits has engineered over 200 apps to date, with plenty more to come. Sourcebits offers design and development services for iPhone, Android and more. Please feel free to get in touch with us to find out how we can help your app stand apart in a crowded marketplace. Follow Sourcebits on Twitter and Facebook for recent news and updates.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, akinbostanci, Flickr, laihiu, konch, BeholdingEye,Oxford
This story originally published on Mashable here.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/avoid-common-pitfalls-mobile-app-development-134933896.html
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