Have you ever heard of Flappy Bird?
It’s one of the most infamous apps out there, being developed by one man, Dong Nguyen, who took the world by storm overnight with his silly, challenging mobile app. Flappy Bird was a rather simple game; The player took charge of a bird seemingly weighed down by constant, unforgiving weight and tapped the screen to make him flap his wings through obstacles that manifested as green, Mario-like pipes. Later, copyright issues arose due to the aforementioned similarities to certain games featuring an Italian plumber, Flappy Bird became a multi-million dollar success, earning its creator millions and making it the number one app in the world for a time. Even though it isn’t available on app stores anymore, the enduring legend of the application has inspired others to try app development for themselves.
Yes, for creative people who are able to see holes in the market that need to be filled with new, innovative products, app development is a promising career field that could offer massive amounts of profit if gone about in the correct manner. However, it’s incredibly tough to survive in the app development world unless you have an extensive knowledge of current trends in the field, the proper tools needed to create a smooth, functional product, and a unique product that offers customers a compelling reason to keep engaging.
For those looking to begin a career in app development, this article will give them the basics needed to start working on their own products to make a splash in the market and set up their enterprise for long-term success. Both novelty and longevity must be taken into account with each product developed if you are to succeed as a developer, and this article should give you the know-how needed to set yourself up to have both.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
A Gap in the Market
When brainstorming ideas for an application, one of the first things you need to consider is “what is this app offering users that they don’t already have?” – is there a gap in the market? You can attack this question from a number of angles, including the actual content and services offered by the app, the efficiency with which your app handles a commonly used service or even the amount of functions your app provides that others don’t. The goal is to fill a need that customers may not have even been aware they had, so when your app hits the market, customers see an immediate appeal to it and begin using your product.
You will also want to keep in mind both the tenets of UX and UI design, offering customers an app that is flashy and looks sleek but functions in an efficient way that streamlines their experience. Otherwise, regardless of what you claim to offer consumers, they will remove your app from their phones faster than you can say “useless.”
Functions, Functions, Functions
Generally speaking, the more functionality your app offers, the more likely it is that customers will use it in an ongoing manner, treating it as a hub from which they can access all different kinds of information. This is where APIs, or application programming interfaces, are useful for burgeoning app developers. APIs add functionality to your application such as letting your users access weather information that’s updated in real-time, news, census data, sports statistics, and all kinds of other useful features.
Better, these APIs are usually available at no cost to the developer, giving developers the tools they need to stay competitive against incumbents in their space.
Connect Your App to Services Users Love
Continuing the conversation about APIs, you may want to consider working with APIs that connect your users to your app through services that are much more established. Have you ever used a service like Paypal to pay on a third-party site or used Google to log in to a brand new site you’re visiting for the first time? Features like these are becoming increasingly common among app developers because they streamline the experience for the consumer, allowing them to use one login or one service that they already use to access a variety of different programs and services. They eliminate the need for creating and keeping track of hundreds of different usernames and passwords, which consumers greatly prefer.
Look into ways you can streamline the experience for your customers, patching your application into already existing services and frameworks for maximum visibility and accessibility.
App development is a tough profession, requiring folks with an entrepreneurial spirit to stay on the grind, keep abreast of current trends, and constantly seek ways to improve the customer experience. But by following the above tips, you’ll set yourself up to have an app with both novelty and longevity, maximizing your chances of succeeding in the space.
