Android or iOS – that is the question when your startup is to create a mobile application. There is no right answer which of the platforms is better and more profitable; it all depends on the business model’s features. Android vs iOS: which platform to build your app for first?
I’ll tell you about those factors you need to navigate to find out it is better to develop for ios or Android at the very beginning, without my personal preference. You have to take into account the socio-demographic characteristics of future users, your capabilities, and plans.
Who will use your future application?
Defining the target audience is the first, most important step. It would be best if you learned as much as possible about the age, geographic location, income and expenses, preferences and behavioral patterns of future users.
There are a number of studies and articles about what kind of people prefer iOS or Android. Be sure to get acquainted, but in brief, thanks to numerous studies, it is known that: people with low and middle income choose Android; people of middle age mainly use Apple devices, and older people and teenagers prefer Android. According to the same study, people who hold management positions prefer iOS, and those who are technical specialists are more likely will choose Android.
How do you plan to make money with the help of a mobile app?
Choosing between Android and iOS development, you also select the market to enter with your application. Even though both Google Play and the App Store offer the same products, applications and games for mobile devices, these application stores are significantly different from each other if you compare the number of downloads and the income received. The App Store gets more profit than Google Play, but there are more downloads in Google Play.
If you want to generate revenue directly from the application, implement it on iOS. Users of this platform are more willing to spend money on applications. You can offer them to buy additional functionality or service within the application.
Android gives more opportunities to earn on advertising. Thus, the application itself can be free, and the advertising will pay for it.
To sum up, Apple Store has more paid applications and apps with purchases inside than in Google Play, where there are more popular free apps with the possibility of advertising.
Decide what is best for you: maximizing market reach or greater purchasing power of clients.
What is your budget?
If you have a burning time and a limited budget, it is better to choose the platform iOS, because of the specifics of the many devices and versions of the operating system on Android. iOS and Android-development take approximately the same time. However, Android’s situation becomes more complicated if it develops an application for a large arsenal of devices.
Additionally, I would like to draw attention to other organizational matters pertaining to software testing conducted that are consigned to oblivion or indifference when the time comes to implement them.
The release of the app is not the end. After the launch, you will have to follow the market and invest in further development, as well as test and improve the application. This step may be longer for Android applications. When you develop an Android application, you better implement mobile automation testing services on a number of devices with different characteristics.
Conclusion
It is impossible to say what platform to choose for application development. The choice will depend on what percentage of your target audience uses devices on this or that platform.
Even if the startup budget allows you to invest in both platforms’ development, I do not recommend you develop app for both ios and android. It is much easier to start with one – еhe startup’s goal is to get the first customers and improve the product based on feedback. If you implement the application on two platforms at once, be prepared to increase costs.
