Is the whole process of iOS development really cost-effective?

With the release of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, the Apple App store is flooded with several apps every day. The interest and demand has certainly increased every day, but unfortunately the mobile app development costs have risen considerably too. The cost of the app is dependent on a number of factors and even the developer rates vary from place to place. But the whole app development can be made cost-effective if it is not, in the first place.

iPhone developers have been in demand of the short supply of adept developers but there has been a surge of IT developers who are venturing out to mobile app development. There are usually two ways to get an app developed for the iPhone. One can pay a contractor on an hourly basis or bid for a flat rate so that an outsourced agency is given the responsibility to pump out apps.

iPhone developers charge well above $100/hour for iOS development but mostly the hourly wage is in the region of $50/hour to $250/hour. The costs have dwindled in some places since the development talent pool is getting some good iOs developers.

There are various offshore software development companies who focus on mobile app development work who usually work on flat budgets which usually covers all development costs Some of the complex apps cost drastically high compared to other apps. Most companies prefer to get the development work done through third party boards through flat bids, especially Elance or Odesk. If one is not interested in app development but just want to get an overall assessment of the development costs, LOLerApps is a fantastic blog to read and there are some intricate details which are shared by the experts.

It has been seen that the complexity of an app is a prime decide on the cost of an app. Some complex apps developed in 2010 were priced $50,000-$150,000 while nowadays even the mid-range apps cost $100,000 for the development stages.  As I mentioned earlier, the name of the brand and the app quality also goes a long way in deciding the costs involved in the development process. The Angry Birds app was comparatively created at a much lower price but the infectious nature of the app managed to draw in a record number of downloads and a cult status compared to other apps.

The bottom line here is if one opts for an app which requires serious amount of effort and complexity then it’s going to cost some serious cash in the process. ios App development is expensive but it can prove to be cost-effective if the revenue model in question has a steady flow of returns. The cost-effectiveness of app development depends on a number of factors and it is not possible to determine a generic scenario. The category of the app, the genre, the plausibility and reach of the idea, its complexity and the marketing budget of the app goes a long way into deciding the ROI factor of mobile app development.