A recent research by Small Biz Trends reports that 90% of the new start-ups fail. The same research cites various reasons for this failure. They are:
- 2% legal failures
- 2% operations issues
- 6% tech problems
- 16% finance problems
- 34% lack of product-market fit
- 22% marketing problems
- 18% team issues
It has been observed that start-ups do have an edge over established businesses in terms of intellectual prowess and resources. However, they often fail because they neglect or make a mistake in choosing the right platform through which users can reach out to them.
It is against this background that we are exploring how Flutter makes a huge difference in this weak area of the start-ups, especially in the Post-COVID era. There has never been a time in the history of humanity such as this that the use of mobile application has become an essential part of any business.
It is important for the start-ups to have a mobile application that runs on multiple platforms. An article cites interesting examples of some businesses that have been able to increase their sales phenomenally through their cross-platform mobile apps.
For example, an e-commerce business Touch of Modern launched its website in 2012. However, just after a year of the launch, when they launched their mobile e-commerce app, their orders increased to 131,000 from 30,600. It now gets 70% of its sales from mobile devices in which two-thirds of the sales are from their app.
According to a Statista survey, there are 7.1 billion mobile users across the world in 2021. This would increase to 7.26 billion by 2022. And, in 2025, the number of mobile users is estimated to be 7.49 billion globally.
Another such commercial research says that annual app downloads would be about 258 billion in 2022 globally. In the same research, consumer spend in apps stores is estimated to increase to $156.5 billion by 2022 from $100 billion in 2018.
In the light of such clear statistics, it is not the question of whether you should go for a mobile application for your start-up or not. It is rather a question of which platform would be the best for you to choose to develop a mobile application for your start-up.
While the digital world offers many frameworks to choose from, Flutter stands out for its unique features. As per Google I/O 2018, 2 million developers are using Flutter for app development be it mobile, desktop, and the web.
What is Flutter?
Flutter is based on Google’s in-house programming language Dart. Its unique features have made it the most sought-after framework for developing cross-platform applications. Not only start-ups, but giants like Alibaba, Hamilton Music, Tencent, and many more exploit it to develop their software products.
Let us explore what are these unique features of this wonderful framework, and why start-ups should use Flutter for their cross-platform software products.
Major characteristics of Flutter
Following are some of Flutter’s unique features that make it the most preferred framework for start-ups as well as established enterprises:
- Customizable widgets for almost all types of businesses
- Compatibility with major operating systems like Android and iOS
- Allows fast development time
- Offers huge community support of active developers
- Facilitates wider reach
- Gives ample time and space to experiment across various platforms
- Keeps constantly updating so as to meet the market trends, expectations, and demands. This also helps remove the bugs.
- Matchless efficiency, scalability, and reliability
- Easily accessible for businesses to maintain and customize their apps.
Reasons why start-ups should use Flutter
Cost-effective
Software application development can cost around $10,000 to $50,000. This may increase depending upon other factors such as complexity, development team, features etc.
When a start-up wants to develop a mobile app, it can start building a native app with Flutter as it is not required that you develop a fully functional app right from the beginning. Flutter allows you to build such a native app.
Flutter offers code reusability that saves time and allows the developers to develop an app for multiple platforms using the same code. As they say time is money, when application development takes less time, it automatically saves money, and becomes a highly cost-effective framework for Start-ups.
Faster development process and increased productivity
When a start-up wants to develop a mobile app, it surely wants it quickly. The Flutter framework takes the complexity of the application development away and allows the developers to develop the app faster with the reusability of the code.
A Flutter developer does not need to write the codes from scratch. One can easily embed Flutter single code into different programming languages. This ultimately reduces duration of the development process
Also, with Flutter’s “Hot Reload” feature, developers can easily make instant changes in the backend without recompilation. This too hugely reduces the development time of the application.
With the help of this Hot Reloading feature, developers and designers can see all the changes in the UI during the app development process. When the efforts and time of the developers get reduced, it automatically translates into increased productivity without any doubt.
Flutter only requires a single deep quality assurance process which is more than enough to test the features and functionality of the cross-platform app. This too makes it a much sought-after framework than the others which demand intense QA that makes the development process lengthy and more expensive.
Excellent user experience with broad range of widgets
Flutter is a powerful framework to give excellent user experience thanks to its collaboration with Material Design. This collaboration offers a unique mechanism to the developers. The developers can keep the same user interface while switching to the other platform.
There is a widget catalog of Flutter that provides the developers with a broad choice for cross-platform tools. These tools are not just for the whole screen but also for the app itself.
Third-party plug-ins and a broader range of widgets empower the developers to create sharp and complex apps without any obstacles.
Also, Flutter offers widgets that are compatible with both Android and iOS. This gives users native -like experience across various platforms. Better user experience often results in more business.
Customization and high responsiveness
Application development based on single code makes it easier for the developers to change and maintain the app, especially for start-ups and small-size businesses as they are continuously evolving.
The higher customization ability of Flutter is a real boon for the start-ups as it surely makes them keep up with the market trends and give them an edge over their competitors.
Since the developers do not need to change the Dart code for making cross-platform apps on Flutter, the apps developed on Flutter indeed work seamlessly on all the platforms available in the industry.
Who can then resist a framework that gives such a high responsiveness? This serves two purposes- reduces development time and gives wider reach to the businesses that are just starting their journey.
High responsiveness of Flutter also empowers the customers as they can access the app on smart phones, websites, as well as on desktops.
Privilege of having an app infrastructure sans server
Flutter is integrated with Google’s mobile platform Firebase. This means that when start-ups develop their apps based on Flutter, they would be able to leverage Firebase that provides services like cloud storage, cloud functions, real-time databases, hosting, and many more at just one place.
This gives the start-ups a luxury or a privilege to have a scalable infrastructure that does not require servers. This saves a lot of time and money in the development process. The developers can combine Firebase with other tools. This makes the developers automate the entire process of software application development without any hassle.
Different themes
We have already discussed how Flutter’s single code helps developers build multiple applications on all the platforms. It has another interesting feature to offer too. If the business wants different types of themes for their cross-platform applications, Flutter app development graciously obliged them that too!
Yes, Flutter offers various types of themes that can be used for different applications running on different platforms. This certainly gives extraordinary user experience with various operating systems.
A one-stop solution for MVP Development
A start-up often needs a basic application to begin with. Flutter is the best choice for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) development as it can help build a mobile app in real time even with limited resources, budget and time.
Its UI Native widgets, Hot Reload Feature, and its support for 2D GPU accelerated APIs make the user interface animations irresistible and attractive. Following are some other reasons why Flutter indeed is a one-stop solution for MVP development in 2022:
- Wider range of widgets and higher customization ability
- No need to pay for license fees as it is free and open-source framework
- Internationalized flutter libraries facilitates localization as per the language, text, preferred layout, and location.
- No multiple investments for different platforms.
- Easier, faster, and smoother development process due to wider range of plug-ins.
- Easily understandable documentation that makes it easier to learn and code.
Conclusion
In the light of the discussion, it is quite evident that the future of mobile application development indeed belongs to Flutter. To have a Flutter-based mobile application can prove to be an effective business strategy to drive growth.
If a start-up can have a brilliant, cross-platform app in less time with less cost, providing excellent user experience, what more can be required? Give Flutter a chance, and be ready to fly in the sky of your dreams and aspirations without any fear.
