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Marketer of the Scorocode cloud backend platform Mikhail Epikhin wrote a column for the site about the mobile application development industry - how customers can save time and money on creating applications, and programmers can reduce the cost of development and support.

Despite their popularity, mobile applications still remain such a beast that they already know what it is and what they eat it with, but have not yet figured out how much they sell it for. Low customer literacy in this matter harms both parties.

It is difficult for the customer to choose a contractor because he does not understand how much time and effort is needed to solve the problem, and the contractors have to regularly explain that it is impossible to create a 30-screen monster for all devices in a week, or what if a competitor has outrageously increased the price, but we don’t , this does not mean that we are doing much worse.

Therefore, let's clarify what the price for developing an application consists of. In the article, we calculated the cost of creating a mobile application, which, naturally, can increase or decrease due to a number of factors: region, agency reputation, and so on, which we will also talk about.

Deadlines

The first thing that determines the cost and development time is the complexity of the application. The second is the number of platforms (iPhone iOS, iPad iOS, Android phone, Android tablet, Windows Phone) on which it will work. Yes, tablets and smartphones are often considered separately, but not always; I’ll explain why below.

Even when written separately, the code for each platform does not have to be completely unique. That is, if a program is first written for one platform and then adapted for another, this will not double the cost of development. But it will lengthen the time frame a little.

Applications of medium complexity

Medium in complexity are those that cover several processes. These include most online stores and booking systems. There are about 10 screens, there is a personal account, authorization via social networks is supported, there is integration with a server or website, often with payment systems. The functionality of feedback, grading, and ratings can be built-in. For several platforms they are completed in 3-6 months (300-800 hours).

Applications in this category are the most common. According to an American survey (three years ago, but still included in many global industry reports), a standard application is created on average in 18 weeks, that is, in 4 months. Nowadays, development times have become shorter, and the trend looks set to continue in the coming years. Technologies are developing, there are more and more courses, open lessons and conferences on the topic, and this certainly has a positive effect on the development of the market.

Complex Applications

This category includes applications that take 800 hours (6 months) or more to develop. They can support real-time synchronization, all kinds of interactivity, integration with any database, animation, working with downloaded content (with maps, for example) offline, and everything else your heart desires.

When a client is not satisfied with the deadlines, he usually asks to parallelize tasks and involve more specialists. When creating a mobile app, you can usually only do this with programming, the rest of the steps remain sequential, but if you find a studio that manages projects using Agile approaches, they may save you a little time. In any case, do not hesitate to ask studios how their development process works to make sure that you are not overpaying for ineffective management.

Price

It’s easier to save money: the price of a product is made up of standard components, some of which can be eliminated or replaced with cheaper analogues.

Renting premises

If you are working with a specialized studio, immediately take into account the cost of office rental and utility bills. In Moscow, this is approximately 120 thousand rubles per month for premises for a small team (I am guided by data from the cost of website development, they are really average for the capital).

At the same time, such a staff can conduct 8 projects (also similar to the material in the link above), that is, for each month of working with you, they will spend at least 15 thousand on renting an office for your order. Thus, for simple applications that are completed in a month or two, the costs will be 15-30 thousand, for medium ones (3-6 months) - 45-75, for complex ones - from 90.

There are two options to save at the expense of this part: look for a young agency where employees work remotely, or select a team of specialists who work for themselves, but keep in mind that if after publishing the application you may need support, then it is better not to contact freelancers .

By the way, as for agencies, not only a new player on the market who saves on an office can be a profitable contractor. Yes, their prices are greatly influenced by experience and the presence of awards, but if you decide in advance what kind of application you want to make and find a similar one in the agency’s portfolio, then there is a chance to get a discount, appealing to the fact that they will not create for you from scratch , but based on the previous order.

Plus, companies that use BaaS (Backend as a service) platforms like ours spend significantly less on development (more on this below), and accordingly, their services should cost less. This information can and should be requested at the negotiation stage, as well as estimates of all work broken down by employee hours. It’s better to ask for the real cost of development in hours with a separately specified commission, so it will be easier for you to compare the offers of different studios with each other and with the figures from our article.

Engineering and design

This can be done by a team of three specialists (UX designer, UI designer and graphic designer) and one jack of all trades. In the first option, the quality is higher (also the price), but studios usually use the second. In it, the design takes an average of 80 hours with development costs of 500 hours and 160 with development costs of 900. With the average Moscow salary of the corresponding designer being 80,000 rubles per month (according to hh.ru) and the average number of working hours per month 165 (according to the production calendar) we get rounded 15,000 for a simple application (about 270 hours to create), 40,000 for a medium one (about 670), 80,000 for a complex one (about 1,150).

You can save on design by working with specialists from the regions (quality may suffer because the market there is less developed than in the capital) or from Ukraine. There are about one and a half times more freelancers there, at least those focused on foreign orders, and the prices are lower.

Development

It is divided into backend and frontend, but mobile programmers specializing in a specific OS do both. Based on the average employee salary of 100,000 per month (according to Superjob), we get the cost of developing a simple application at approximately 120,000, an average one - 290 thousand, a complex one - 515 thousand (we take the same number of hours to create as above).

When using the services of freelancers, you can save money if you look for them on Russian-language sites (preferably developers from the provinces) or find a good, inexpensive specialist based on a recommendation. Searching international resources for programmers with good ratings can only result in overpayment, even taking into account the savings on renting premises: if the average studio programmer receives about $9 per hour at the current rate, then freelance artists with their fluent English do not hesitate to rate themselves at 2-6 times more expensive (data from Upwork).

There is an option to simplify both parts of development by creating applications using a template. For it you will pay only 3-4 thousand rubles annually, but the quality of such products is usually very far from the modern understanding of beauty. Further than the quality of website templates and email newsletters, for example.

The second option is to simplify only the programming of the server part by using backend development platforms. This is effective because the share of backend work (including core) in application programming is about 80% - only a fifth of the time is spent on the front end. You get a ready-made SDK that includes data modeling, PUSH, email and SMS notifications, cloud storage, JavaScript server code, analytical tools and user management. It helps reduce the number of employees involved (even in complex applications you can do without an architect and database developer, a system administrator, and one or two system developers instead of two or three) and reduces the share of server programming in development to 30%.

This has a particularly positive effect on the time frame for creating the entire product (what can be written in 18 months without a BaaS platform is done 2-3 times faster with it), because most of the time on server functionality is spent at the beginning, and has not yet been created base, frontend is impossible to write. Plus, the issue of cloud services for data hosting and tools for analyzing the server load on the application are automatically resolved. You pay a fee for use, like any cloud service.

Testing and publishing

This is usually done by a project manager or special software testers, but their salaries are approximately the same - about 80 thousand on average (again, data from Superjob and HeadHunter). In practice, testing and publishing it on the site takes from 2 days to 2 weeks of continuous work, that is, from 16 to 80 hours. For a simple application it will cost 8,000 rubles, for a complex one around 40, for an average one – about 25.

Let's add here project management, which will most likely be carried out by the same manager. From experience, he will spend about 3 days of continuous work on this (including the first meeting with the client, collecting requirements, etc.) in the simple version, 7 in the average version and 14 in the complex version. In money terms, such expenses are 12,000, 27,000 and 54,000 rubles, respectively.

By the way, uploading an application to the store is not the least difficult task. The App Store and Google Play guidelines contain quite a few reasons why your product may be rejected, for example, age rating. In addition, each iteration of the check takes quite a long time - about a week (but there are ways to speed up the process), which adds problems to those who have deadlines for the calculation. You can read instructions, tricks and experience of other people that will help in this difficult matter on Habré.

If we talk about the final figures of time and money that need to be counted on, according to the performers themselves, then the data from the studios varies greatly. For example, 2Nova Interactive voices frames from 600 thousand rubles to several million. Their minimum development period is 1.5 months (excluding the time for approvals and publication in stores).

From the author: Hi all! Today we will talk about how to become a mobile application developer for Apple and Android. The number of applications on services such as the Apple Store and Google Play is growing every day. These applications can perform a variety of functions. Some of them allow you to process photos using fashionable retro filters and all kinds of effects. Others help you learn foreign languages, while others help you download and read e-books. You can even install a metal detector or building level. In general, applications ready to make our lives easier are now in abundance.

Some of them are free to download, some are not, in any case, free apps will contain advertising and paid content. But at the moment we are interested in a slightly different aspect. The fact is that you can make money by developing mobile applications, and quite well.

Where to start learning how to develop applications for mobile devices?

Becoming a mobile app developer is much easier if you already have an understanding of programming. Then you can safely skip this section. But, as you know, repetition is the school of the artist, and in our case, the programmer. In addition, it is possible that you will have to do some of the work related to graphic design.

If you have no idea about programming, it’s okay, because you can always learn. Moreover, the Internet contains a lot of information devoted to the study of programming.

For those who want to delve into the field of web programming in general and want to “get to the bottom of everything”; For those who are interested in programming not only as a craft, but also as an art, we can advise you to study , CSS, and maybe even jQuery, if you want to truly test yourself and your inquisitive mind =)

Is a diploma really necessary?

There is a stereotype that the best programmers are those who graduated from programming schools and have certificates and diplomas that supposedly confirm their skills. But this is sometimes far from the truth.

Both among professional programmers and among self-taught people, there are people who really find themselves in the right place and who have a penchant for programming. But there are also those who simply consider themselves masters of their craft, although, in reality, web design or something else more related to creativity would be more suitable for them.

And, oddly enough, this picture is observed more often among certified specialists than among those who studied programming on their own. This is explained by the fact that those who really want to master this profession actually study and constantly apply knowledge in practice, and do not just attend classes and wait in line for a diploma.

What does a mobile application developer need to know?

Using modern programming languages ​​that are used to develop mobile applications for Android or iOS, it is quite possible to create your first creation within a month.

Just imagine: in just a month you will become a mobile application developer. Training to become a programmer, of course, is far from being limited to this. Yes, you will be able to develop some simple games and even make a profit from them after monetization.

Go to Google Play or the App Store: most of these applications are there, especially among games. According to statistics, there are nine out of ten such applications. This is what the average mobile application developer does. But where to start your training if you don’t want to stop there?

In order not to be that average developer and create something truly original, you need a high-quality foundation. Experienced programmers recommend starting your studies with computer science, data structures, classical algorithms, hash table devices, and so on.

It is necessary to understand the basic concepts that are used in programming, regardless of the language and device. Here it will be useful to know the basics of C++, despite the fact that many already consider it outdated. Perhaps so, but these are the basics, without which Java and PHP would not have arisen. It will be useful to learn about data security, encryption, network protocols, and the Unix kernel.

So far we have only talked about the technical part of the issue, but this will not be enough for success. Truly high-quality software is not only a program that works without errors. High-quality software implies a well-thought-out interface that would be understandable to the user (and not just the developer), the logic of the program, taking into account all possible scenarios. Paying attention to details and finding interesting, non-standard solutions is the responsibility of every developer.

Feel like a trend maker

No matter how strange it may seem at first glance, a mobile application developer should not only be a good programmer, but also an astute marketer.

It is important to understand what is currently in demand among users, and then hurry to occupy the niche that has not yet been occupied by your competitors. You don't have to chase what's popular now or what was once popular.

Of course, the new is the well-forgotten old, but successful programmers do not adapt to modern trends. They themselves take responsibility for creating these very trends.

In addition, you should not forget about learning English, because program codes are written in it. By writing these codes, you can only learn technical English, but to communicate with English-speaking customers, you will have to deepen your knowledge. In addition, this will be a useful practice not only for application development.

Only if you harmoniously develop the skills of a programmer, designer and marketer can you achieve success in the field of mobile application development.

Finally

When you acquire the necessary knowledge, you can safely offer your services to customers, who can be found in abundance on freelance exchanges. You shouldn’t expect success to fall on you immediately after registering and filling out a portfolio with your work.

At first you will have to carry out small and simple orders, but if you do not stop there, over time you will be able to develop truly impressive projects for customers not only in your country, but throughout the world.

Modern trends and approaches in web development

Learn the algorithm for rapid growth from scratch in website building

– it’s not as difficult as it might seem. However, you still cannot do without minimal knowledge in programming and code development.

There are many services on the Internet that provide ready-made templates for writing programs, but you can only create a truly profitable application using code.

Before you start developing your first application yourself, the user needs to download and install the following software products.

Installing the Java Development Kit

After installation is complete, you need to open the application and check all uninstalled packages and resources.

In the next step, you must add the Android SDK plugin to the integrated development environment. Using the Eclipse environment as an example, you can add a plugin as follows:

  1. In the “Help” tab, click “Add new software”.
  1. Click the “Add” button and enter the plugin name and address.

  1. Click “OK” and check the box next to “Developer Tools’”.
  2. Click “Next” and start installing the plugin.

After installation, the user will introduce new icons into their integrated environment.

Setting up emulators for testing

The emulator eliminates the need for programmers to have all types of Android devices to test new applications.

This is what the Android SDK looks like

To add a new device, you need to click on the “New” button and create a virtual device by entering basic data and its characteristics.

  • Name;

It is necessary to enter a name that would indicate as informatively as possible what this device is.

  • Target;

Here you need to select the version of Android on which to test.

Advice! Testing is often carried out on the latest versions of the operating system, however, if the programmer decides to do this on earlier versions, then there is a need to install an SDK manager.

  • SD card;

You must specify the amount of disk space that will be used in the device.

  • Skin;

Allows you to create and change the appearance of a virtual device.

  • Hardware;

Adds equipment that will be used during testing.

Mobile software development can be a fun and rewarding endeavor. In this article we will tell you how to create an android application.

Android Studio

To write an application, you will need to download and install Android Studio. The package includes a software development kit with all the libraries and Android code needed to develop the application. And also an Android emulator, which allows you to first test the application on your PC without installing it on a real mobile device.

But first you need to download and install the Java Development Kit ( JDK) from Oracle. Find the section " Java SE Development Kit 7u79" and download the version for your PC. It is important to download the correct version ( 32-bit or 64-bit), otherwise Android Studio will not be able to find the Java Runtime Environment ( JRE).

Note: Oracle will not be publishing any updates to Java SE 7 on its public sites, and users are expected to migrate en masse to Java 8. But currently Android Studio requires Java 7. This may change in the future.

After you have installed the JDK, you need to install Android Studio. During installation, you must specify how much memory to reserve for the Android emulator. It runs Android as a virtual machine, much like an Intel-powered smartphone. This is faster than ARM processor emulation on PC. But to run this virtual machine, the emulator must allocate some memory. But before you create an Android application yourself, keep in mind that the combination of Android Studio, Java and an emulator will be quite resource-intensive, and the computer may slow down.

Google says you need at least 2GB of RAM, and 4GB is recommended. But my main PC has 8 GB, and it still slows down sometimes:

When you first launch Android Studio, it will perform initial initialization, which includes downloading and installing the latest version of the Android SDK. This may take a few minutes.

Once everything is downloaded and installed, you will see a menu that allows you to create a new one, open an existing one, or import a project, etc.

Create a new project

Click " Start a new Android Studio project" and enter the name of your application in the field " Application name" In field " Company Domain» Enter the official domain of your company. If you are an independent developer or hobbyist, enter your own domain. If you're just experimenting with Android and don't plan to publish your apps to Google Play anytime soon, just leave the example domain, just change the " user" in your name (without spaces):


In the next dialog box, make sure you have the " Phone and Tablet", and for " Minimum SDK» installed - API 15: Android 4.0.3. For options " Wear " And " TV

» checkboxes should not be checked. In the dialog box " Add an activity to Mobile » leave the default value « Blank Activity " and press " Next " In the dialog box " Customize the Activity " Leave all values ​​and click "»:


Finish Integrated Development Environment ( IDE ) is running. This may take a few minutes ( especially if this is your first time creating a project ). If you see the error message " Rendering Problems: Rendering failed with known bug ", click the link " rebuild

" that appears next to the error message. By default, the IDE's workspace is divided into three main parts ( not counting the toolbar, etc.

Before you create an Android application from scratch, you can already compile and run the automatically created application, but this is not very interesting. Instead, we'll add a few tidbits to get you started with Android app development.

Project tree

The project tree contains all the files and resources needed to create an Android application. If you're familiar with writing simple programs in Java, C, Python, etc., you might think that everything would be contained in just one or two files. But Android app development is a little more complicated:


At node " app The project tree contains several nodes (for example, folders) that can be expanded. The top level nodes are “ manifests”, “java" And " res" The latter is an abbreviation for “ resources”.

IN " manifests” the file is located “ AndroidManifest.xml", every application must contain it. This is an XML file with information about the application, including its name. An element often added to this file is a list of permissions required by the application. For this simple application, you don't need to change anything here.

In chapter " java» contains the Java code of the application. It will be in a subdirectory called com.example.user.myfirstapp. This is the company domain name you entered earlier, but in reverse, plus the application name. This folder contains the MainActivity.java file. This is the entry point to the application and the only Java file we will need.

We continue to create a simple application for Android. In chapter " res» There are several folders for graphics, menus and UI elements. We are interested " layout Wear values" In folder " layout" there is a file called " activity_main.xml" This is an XML file that describes the user interface. You can edit it in two ways. The first is to directly edit the XML code, the second is to use the built-in UI designer:


In folder " values"contains several XML files. At the moment, the most important thing for us is strings.xml. Instead of setting string values ​​in Java code, they are usually placed in the file " strings.xml", and we can refer to them via identifiers. The advantage is that if a string is used multiple times, it can only be changed once and the changes will take effect in all places. This also makes it easier to support multiple languages ​​within the app.

To create an Android application yourself, you will need to change the MainActivity.java, activity_main.xml and strings.xml files.

Writing an application

For our example, we will add a button labeled " Tap Me!", change the default greeting " Hello world!" on " Tap me if you dare!" We will also change it so that it is in the center. And let's add the code so that when the button is clicked, the text " toast»!

Let's start by changing the greeting text and its alignment. First, find the file “ activity_main.xml» and double-click on it. Remember, that " activity_main.xml" is a file that contains the user interface definition. At the bottom of the code window there are two tabs: " Design Wear Text" Go to the " Design».

Now click on the text " Hello world!", which is shown in the preview window of the smartphone screen. If it is too small, use the zoom button ( magnifying glass with plus sign).

In the properties window located to the right of the phone image, scroll down the screen until you find the words “ layout: centerInParent" Click on the space bar next to it and select " horizontal" After this the text “ Hello world!» will move to the center:


Before creating an Android application without skills, let's change the text. Line " Hello world!" is stored in the file " strings.xml" in the res->values ​​section. If you double-click on this file, you will see several XML lines that define the strings used by the application.

Find this line:

XMLSELECT ALL XMLSELECT ALL Hello world!

And change it to:

CSSELECT ALL CSSELECT ALL Tap me if you dare!

We've changed the greeting's alignment and text. Now let's add a button. Return to the " Design» file « activity_main.xml", find in the list " Palette"To the left of the smartphone image is the item " Button" and click on it. Now click somewhere under the words “ Tap me if you dare!».

Double-click a button to change its text. At the end of the field “ text:” there is a button with three dots, click on it. In the window " Resources» click « New Resource", and then " New String Value…" In field " Resource name:" enter " tapme", and in the field " Resource value:» — “ Tap me!" Then click " OK" Now we have a button “ Tap me!”.

The last step in creating a simple Android application is to add Java code that responds to button clicks. One of the Android user interface elements is “ toast." It provides a simple message in a small popup window. You've undoubtedly seen this. For example, in Gmail, when you sign out of email before sending the email, you see the message “ Message saved to drafts" After a certain time it disappears.

For our example application, we will display a message every time a button is clicked. The first step is to add the Java code. Find the file " MainActivity.java" and add the following code to " onCreate«:

JAVASELECT ALL JAVASELECT ALL public void onButtonTap(View v) ( Toast myToast = Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "Ouch!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG); myToast.show(); )

Word " View" in the phrase "( View v)" will be red and a message will appear next to it indicating that you have used a new design ( View), without importing it in the import section, at the top of the Java code. This is easy to fix. Click on the word " View" and then ALT + ENTER. If the word “ Toast” is marked in red, do the same again:


Return to the file designer section " activity_main.xml", click the button and scroll the list of properties to the item " onClick" Click on the box on the right and a list of functions will appear on the screen. Click on " onButtonTap", this is a feature we just added.

Now the onButtonTap() function will be called whenever the button is clicked. To display the message, we call myToast.show() .

That's all for creating an Android application yourself, now let's test it in an emulator.

Building and testing the application

On the menu " Tools» Go to Android-AVD Manager. This tool displays a list of currently configured virtual Android devices. You will have one device configured by default, probably a Nexus 5. Click on the play icon (triangle) in the " actions" This will launch the emulator.

Mobile applications can be created not only by specialized companies with highly qualified programmers, but also by ordinary users. What tools can they use for these purposes? What should you pay attention to when developing your own software for mobile devices?

Purpose of mobile applications

Before considering what tools are used to develop mobile applications and how to create them, let’s study what the purpose of their release may be, based on the purpose of the corresponding solutions. Mobile applications can be classified into the following main types:

Informational;

Transactional;

Communication;

Mobile versions of computer software - editors, viewers, browsers;

Analytical applications and schedulers;

Educational solutions.

Actually, games are also mobile applications, but most often they are classified as a separate software category. Let's study in more detail what the marked mobile applications are and how to create them, taking into account possible costs.

Information applications

The essence of information applications is to provide their users with access to certain useful information and news. An example of a corresponding solution is an application from a clothing or footwear manufacturer that informs users about discounts and special offers of this company. This could be a mobile catalog or a brochure in the appropriate format.

Creating an iOS or Android mobile app of the appropriate flavor is probably the easiest. The fact is that the basis for this type of software can be, for example, an already working company website or its mobile version. It is enough to adapt its interface, as well as the communication mechanisms implemented in it, to the software algorithms of mobile operating systems - we will consider further what tools this can be done with, and the mobile application will be ready.

Transactional Applications

Transaction applications are designed to make payments for various goods and services purchased via the Internet. These types of software can be issued by banks and payment systems. It is worth noting that the most complex in structure and code are, in many cases, transactional mobile applications. Only the most highly qualified specialist knows how to create them and, most importantly, adapt them to legal requirements.

Therefore, if the user does not have such skills - both in terms of solving technical problems and in ensuring that applications comply with legal requirements - then such solutions should be developed independently, if at all, then, first of all, for informational purposes, during self-study. The implementation of such developments in practice will require additional time and, in many cases, additional costs.

Communication Applications

Communication applications are those programs that are designed to provide communication between users using the resources of the developer or third-party brands. Creating such solutions yourself, as is the case with transactional applications, is quite difficult. Again, it makes sense to do this mainly when there is a desire, in principle, to learn how to develop the appropriate type of products. But putting them into practice will require significant resources, which few private users have at their disposal.

In most cases, only highly qualified specialists know how these mobile applications are implemented and how to create conditions for their stable operation. But, of course, a skilled programmer who is willing to spend a significant amount of time and investment can, in principle, develop a messenger or a small social network that is simple in structure, but in demand due to its simplicity and convenience.

However, they probably won’t be able to compete with Skype, Vkontakte or Viber. Therefore, at the planning stage for the development of traditional applications, the developer should realistically assess the prospects for bringing his product to market.

Mobile versions of computer software

Editors, viewers, browsers are applications that are similar or close in their functions to the corresponding solutions used by users of traditional computers. But, of course, they are far from the only ones that can have analogues adapted to run on a PC. Actually, any types of applications in the classification we have given can be computer applications. However, the solutions under consideration are among those that became familiar to users before smartphones and tablets began to appear en masse on the computing market. Therefore, programs of the corresponding type in the original are, as a rule, presented in versions adapted to run on a PC, and only after the appearance of smartphones and tablets on the market are they presented in the form of mobile versions.

How to create a mobile application for Android or iOS of the appropriate type yourself depends primarily on whether the original computer version of the software is licensed or whether it is distributed as free open source software. In the first case, creating a mobile version of the program in most cases will require approval from the copyright holders. And if they refuse to authorize the development of the corresponding version of the program, then its mobile version, even if the user creates it on his own initiative, will most likely be considered illegal. If the original software is open source, then developing its version for a mobile device is a matter of technology.

Analytical software and schedulers

Analytical applications and planners allow you to carry out various statistical observations, create a budget, schedule meetings, etc. It can be noted that this segment of mobile applications is among those in which private developers, as a rule, are given the greatest freedom of action. There are not many brands that know how to create a mobile application for Android or iOS of the appropriate type much better than a private developer. The most important thing in such decisions is the concept. Its development depends mainly on the skills of a particular programmer, designer, finance specialist, and it is possible that the approaches he proposes will be more effective than those developed by a large company.

Training programs

The same, in principle, can be said about training programs developed for mobile devices. They are designed to make it easier for users to master certain languages, norms, and skills. A private developer may well offer users a solution of the appropriate type, more convenient and effective in comparison with what can be created by a large company.

Developing mobile applications yourself: software structure

How to create a mobile application yourself? To successfully solve this problem, the developer should first of all decide on the optimal structure of the program being created for a mobile device. Regardless of the purpose of the software, it will consist of 2 main components: a front-end and a back-end module. The first represents the interfaces through which the user will use the application's capabilities. The second module is responsible for receiving and transmitting data within the framework of interaction between the corresponding software and the user (in some cases, also the developer, if, for example, he is required to provide certain updates or feedback).

What could the application interface be like?

More detailed characteristics of the structure of mobile applications depend on their purpose. So, for example, if information software for an online store is created, then its interface may contain:

Navigation options with which the user can access certain data;

Feedback block with seller or supplier;

Personal account, which will reflect data on the user’s requests and purchases;

A news block that will contain information about discounts and special offers of the online store, as well as other significant information.

It is possible that it would be better for the store owner to create a mobile site application that repeats exactly its structure, so that users who are already familiar with the resource can easily navigate the structure of the corresponding software for mobile devices.

applications: tools

Let us now study a number of practical nuances of developing the solutions under consideration. The question of how to create a mobile application yourself can be solved with the help of convenient designers, which are presented in fairly large quantities on the relevant software market. In particular, you can pay attention to such solutions as: MobiCart, BusinessApps, My-Apps, Net2Share. All of them are presented in cloud software format and can be accessed from any device via the Internet. Let's take a closer look at how to create a mobile application using the capabilities of these programs.

Application Development Tools: MobiCart

This service can be useful to the owner of an online store just in case he does not initially have his own website. Using MobiCart, a developer can create a functional application through which users will be able to build the widest range of communications with the seller: place orders, pay for them, receive information about discounts, contact the supplier.

The main functions of the service in question are provided on a commercial basis, but the developer can get acquainted with its capabilities for free.

Tools for creating mobile applications: BusinessApps

This application builder is optimal mainly for small online stores. It allows you to implement:

Interfaces for messaging, adding items to cart;

Organization of negotiations between the supplier and the buyer of goods;

News block.

It is noteworthy that this application designer allows you to use templates adapted for creating applications for enterprises representing specific areas of business, for example, catering, fitness. The service in question is not free; its subscription fee is $59 per month. However, you can use the trial version. In addition, if the user does not like this designer, he may demand a refund of the funds paid.

Application Development Tools: My-Apps

This designer, in turn, is free. The problem “how to create a mobile application for iPhone or Android using it” can be solved by using 10 templates that are adapted to ensure communications with consumers of enterprises in a wide range of business areas. Among the most notable features of the service in question is the rapid publication of the application in the largest catalogs - the App Store and Google Play.

Application Development Tools: Net2Share

The designer in question is one of the most convenient solutions that allows you to quickly understand how to create a mobile application for Android yourself. This resource is adapted specifically for developing products on the appropriate platform. It is characterized by a fairly large set of functions, as well as the ability to earn money from the application being created using internal advertising services. That is, a user can, having developed a particular product, upload it to a corporate account. In addition, the most active developers receive a free profile on Google Play.

In addition, Net2Share conducts free training courses for users, through participation in which a developer can improve his skills in creating and promoting applications on the market.

Of course, there are a large number of other specialized services that allow you to create a mobile application or game. In many cases, a developer may prefer not a cloud service, but a distribution kit that allows him to implement a particular program code. But the resources we discussed above are designed mainly for users with minimal experience and therefore can be used even without special training. They are universal and allow developers to create applications optimized for a wide variety of industries.