Introduction

The high risk high reward landscape of tech startups counts on 3 must-have things, innovation, talented team and financial planning. One can have a groundbreaking idea that fills a major market gap and can have a talented team to implement that idea, but without sound financial planning, the chances of the survival of a startup are minimal. In this article, we aim to delve into the realm of cross-platform development and unveil how it serves as a cost-effective strategy for startups.

App Development Process

Mobile app development is a process that requires well informed decision making, planning and strategic execution. It isn’t as concise as developing a web application and goes through a continuous procedure even after being launched. Crafting a successful mobile app involves navigating a terrain of design, development, and deployment. Here is an overview of how the mobile app development process runs through: 

1. Create a Wireframe and Design

Mobile applications are the key outlook of tech companies, thus it is instrumental that these mobile apps embody an attractive and user friendly design. The first step of the mobile app development process is to create a wireframe of the mobile app and convert it into a high fidelity design. Once the design is completed, it effectively delineates how the mobile application will look.

2. Choose the Technology Stack

Choosing a technology stack when developing a mobile application is the most impactful decision as there are several pros and cons attached with each option. Once decided and the development starts, it is highly inefficient to change the technology stack so the decision must be undertaken prudently. The main two options within the technology stack are as follows:

• Native Mobile Application

• Cross Platform Mobile Applications

3. Development

The development phase of the mobile application is the most time consuming process as it includes both the development of the designs and functionalities. All the backend integrations and third party integrations are essentially considered in this phase. Likewise, attention to details during development is imperative as the development needs to be flawless in order to get the mobile app ready for the next phases.

4. Testing and Performance Optimization

In this phase, the mobile application is rigorously tested and all the improvement feedback points are listed down. These improvements are mostly focussed on ensuring that everything works exactly as intended. Once that is done, improvements in terms of performance are identified and the mobile application is optimized in such a way that it loads and performs actions quickly. Essentially, testing and performance optimization allows the developers to identify the tech-gaps and apply remedial interventions to ensure technical compliance.

5. Security Implementation

As the technology grows, so does the risk of security breach and the need to protect the user data soars. For this particular reason, several security features within the application are added and further tested to ensure compliance with the set objectives. Some of the usual security measures include data encryption, secure authentication, and secure communication protocols. 

6. App Deployment

The app deployment part of the process is the final step towards launching the mobile application. This includes publishing the mobile app to all the marketplaces including Google PlayStore and AppStore. For the apps to be published, they must comply with all submission guidelines.

The Financial Challenges Faced by Startups

Startup ventures, unlike other forms of businesses, are bundled with a complex challenge of budgetary constraints. For tech startups, the point of contact with the target audience is through mobile applications. The development of these applications can be considered as the major cost that they need to cover within their budget. 

The world is divided into 2 major application marketplaces. The Google Playstore and the Apple App Store. Although other marketplaces and platforms exist, the percentage of those are quite minimal. Considering this, if a startup was to build a native mobile application for just google and apple marketplaces, they would need to build two mobile applications and essentially, it would double the cost and timeline. 

That is where cross platform application frameworks exercise the magic. Cross platform development is a cost effective strategy of building mobile applications in such a way that the application is developed once and is exported into the applications for each operating system. Some of the key cross platform application frameworks include Flutter, React Native, Cordova, Ionic along with many others. 

As per SPD Load, an app development company, a native application can cost somewhere around 75,000 USD to 500,000 USD for each operating system. A cross platform application that serves all operating systems costs exactly the same hence showing that if a company were to build two native mobile applications, they would need twice as much budget as compared to building a cross platform application. 

Cost Savings with Cross-Platform Development

Cross Platform application frameworks are the essence of cost effective mobile app development and the main reason why they have such a high impact on the cost is that for all of the operating systems, there is only one codebase. Following are some of the key areas where cross platform app development frameworks are cost efficient: 

1. Codebase

The difference between the cost of the cross platform apps and the native apps majorly lies within the development phase. The development phase starts off with creating a codebase for the mobile app. If native mobile apps were being developed, there would be a need for at least 2 codebases for android and iOS. Cross platform development would only require 1 codebase for all the operating systems as it functions in such a way that the code can be exported for all operating systems from the same code base. 

2. Time Efficiency

Cross platform frameworks are known for some key features that really help in reducing the development time. An example of such a feature is the hot reload feature that allows developers to see the updated mobile app without having to restart the mobile app every time. Features like this can easily reduce the development time and as a result can reduce the cost of the mobile app development. 

3. Reusable Components

Cross platform frameworks are often loaded with reusable components and libraries that allow developers to build mobile applications quickly and easily. Developers can leverage these components and libraries to build out designs and functionalities without having to code from scratch for each operating system. Such an approach helps startups save cost within the development phase.  

4. Single Development Team

When building native mobile applications, startups have to hire different development teams for each of the operating systems that they are developing their mobile application for. This is not the case with cross platform development as there is only a single development team needed. The issues of collaboration and staying on the same page with the mobile applications also becomes unlikely in case of a single development team hence saving cost for the startup. 

5. Updates

The tech industry grows every day and brings something new to the market. Considering that, startups require the mobile applications to undertake regular updates to the mobile app. These updates include implementing better user interfaces, new integrations and making the flow of the mobile app as seamless as possible. 

Native mobile application development process requires the updates to be implemented in all the codebases. Since cross platform frameworks have the same codebase and a single development team, this can be taken care of comparatively easily. This saves time and cost along with a lot of other collaboration inefficiencies that may be there with multiple development teams. 

Latest Trends in Cross-Platform Development

Cross platform development is getting traction and with the vast community that is using and performing development on it, building applications has become less redundant and a more efficient process. Some of the latest trends in the cross platform development are as follows:

1. Flutter 2.0 and Dart Null Safety

Google released Flutter 2.0, which includes significant enhancements facilitating efficient app development, notably the introduction of sound null safety in the Dart programming language. Both of these contribute towards the development of safer and robust code and as a result allow cross platform development of stable and efficient apps

2. Web Support in Flutter

Flutter has been expanding its capabilities beyond mobile platforms. With the introduction of Flutter for Web, developers can use the same codebase to build applications that run on the web, extending the reach of Flutter beyond mobile devices. This allows developers to not just create one codebase between mobile apps, but provide a single codebase that controls web as well as mobile applications. 

3. Improved Performance and Native-like Experiences

Cross platform applications were considered a compromise in performance for mobile applications, but that compromise seems to be slowly fading away. Cross platform frameworks are placing a strong emphasis on improving performance to deliver more native-like experiences. Efforts are made to minimize the performance gap between cross-platform and native apps, ensuring smooth interactions and responsiveness.

Conclusion

In the fast-paced world of startups, where innovation meets fiscal resilience, the choice of a development approach can significantly impact the trajectory of success. As we conclude our exploration into the realm of cross-platform development, it becomes evident that the cost-saving advantages extend far beyond mere financial considerations. Embracing cross-platform frameworks empowers startups to build mobile applications with efficiency and agility.

In the spirit of progress and adaptability, startups look to embrace the ever-evolving cross platform development. Considering both innovation and financial planning, startups can position themselves not only to survive but to thrive in an increasingly competitive digital ecosystem. Conclusively, cross platform frameworks serve as a catalyst for startups to forge ahead and  turn visions into reality and aspirations into successful endeavors.