How to Decide Platform For Your First Ecommerce App?
The increasing number of smartphone users is also encouraging the demand for mobile app development. Regardless of your niche, apps can help add great value to your brand while offering the desired customer services. However, the most common problem most brands face these days is on which platform the app will be available first.
Although the choices are quite limited – Android & iOS – but developing the first app should be limited to only one platform as eCommerce app development may be a costly investment. So how will you decide a platform for your first Magento mobile app development platform?
Let us help!
Market Share
Both platforms, Android and iOS, have their own loyal users and hence enjoy different market shares. For the brands, it is important to understand the market share each platform is having. iOS, despite being a globally renowned platform is running in more than 14% of smartphones over the world, while the Google’s Android enjoys the market share of over 85%. If you aim to target the larger audience with minimal investment in mobile app development, then Android is doubtlessly a choice. Android is particularly a better choice for brands targeting Asian and African countries as the iOS is generally preferred by users of US, Europe, Japan, and Australia.
Demographics
According to the experts, people who fall into the lower income slab generally prefer using Android devices as they are more affordable than the iOS devices. Also, Android mobiles are usually owned by the people with higher average age set of people. Since Android offers most of the mobile apps for free, the engagement is relatively lower. The iOS users are usually mostly younger and educated people with a higher income strata who don’t mind to spend money in buying digital products like apps.
Revenue Generation
As a business owner, your sole aim should be to generate more revenue and increase brand presence among your target audiences. Because iOS users are usually more interested in buying products via online shopping apps and the paid apps, iOS is generally a higher revenue generating platform in comparison to Android. If you are planning to create an app that is a product itself like the gaming or video mixer app, then the preferred platform needs to be iOS.
Mobile Commerce Engagement
It is official, iOS device users are better buyers than the ones who use Android smartphones. Experts claim that only 17% of Android users purchase products using mobile devices while 23% of iOS users are likely to complete purchase using their smartphones. This also makes iOS a better revenue generating platform for the eCommerce businesses, planning to create Magento mobile apps.
Development Cost
The cost of development for Android and iOS apps are very different to each other. While developing an Android app, professionals need to write 40% more lines of code which makes it 30% more expensive than the iOS apps. The time required to develop an app is the main reason for increased cost and if we estimate an app at 300 hours on iOS, the same must require around 390 hours for Android.
App Customization
When it comes to adding new features to the existing app, Android always wins when brands plan for app customization. However, this may be a hurdle with iOS apps as the customization scope is limited with iOS. You must have an expert and certified professional to do the desired changes in your iOS Magento mobile app.
App Launching
If you have ever tried launching an app, you must understand how difficult it is with Apple App Store. Launching an app with Apple Store is quite difficult as your app has to undergo the rigorous testing by the professionals of iOS. Android, on the other hands, makes it quite easy for the app to be launched easily.