So, now, you are ready for creating a mobile app. That is excellent news for you, but your work is not done here. There is an important decision to make before you simply go out in the market and build an app.
You need to decide on which platform you want to develop the app!!!

Yeah!!! You heard that right.

Platform plays a crucial role while developing a mobile app. This particular decision on platform showcase not only your understanding about your market but also become pivotal for the success of your mobile application.

Confused?

Worry not fellas. There is a reason I am writing this post.

With this post, you will learn all the steps which are necessary for your decision-making process. I will explain every single step with the help of an illustration. These illustrations or anecdotes (God I love to use them) will help you in comprehending the actions in the best way possible.

So without any further ado, let’s get you started.

Behold The First Illustration!!!

Quoting the lines I used above, “This particular decision on platform showcase not only your understanding about your market but also become pivotal for the success of your mobile application.”

Understanding your market is important because it is simply important. How will you feel that you went out for fishing and start fishing in the part of the lake where you found none?

I know you will feel terrible. That is the reason you need to know which part of the lake is full of fish and which part isn’t.

This may sound too easy, but believe me, it is not. Finding the area is not the only thing. You need to understand which type of fish are you getting.

Too long; didn’t read explanation for this illustration is this.

First, you need to identify the possible number of platforms there are (Which you already know are two-Android & iOS, so I am not going there at all). Remember, where you going depends on where you came from.

Which platform is most relevant to your audience? Now that is a question you must work on.

Yes, that is true that the answer to the above question is very dynamic. You probably won’t get an easy answer. But there is a way to find it out.

Break your audience with different parameters.

These parameters are,

• Geographically
• Socio-economic Background
• Age
• Gender

So, let’s break them down one by one.

Read here to know unique points to create a perfect mobile app. 

Geographically

If you are targeting a global audience, then for you, the best option is Android. Android clearly dominates the global market with a great margin. Honestly, iOS doesn’t even stand a chance.

On the other hand, if you’re targeting North America or Europe, you might want to go for iOS because according to various surveys, the audience in these areas has higher finances and education as well.

Socio-economic Background

Have a look at these factors, and you will get the idea of how to use this parameter to take better decision,

• Apple users tend to have awesome professional and managerial jobs.
• iPhone users are always more affluent; they earn 40% more than an average Android user.
• Male tend to choose Android than iOS.
• Android users are more in technical job posts.

Age Factor

While going through this, I would suggest you go for some detailed analyses by experts. You can go for sources like business insiders for a reliable source of information. According to them, iOS is chosen by younger people of age around 18-24 years.

Gender

Again for this parameter, you can refer back to Business Insider as it is one of the most reliable sources. See data here will be the key, and you will need a lot of it to make the right decision. As for now, iOS is preferred mostly by females because it is believed that the interface of iOS is far easier and sleek than that of Android.

So, these are the simple parameters to consider before you choose a platform for your first mobile application. Now you are done with that? Good, let’s move further,

These are the rudimentary tenets which you have seen so far. Now it’s time to move forward towards the technicality and things that matter.

Money Factor!!!

I know you’ve got those dollars fixed in your eyeball, so let’s not make them wait any longer.

How You Prefer To Monetize Your App?

Let’s be honest here; you want to earn money, which is why you come up with the idea of creating a mobile app in the first place. So, don’t be shy and understand how you can monetize your app. This approach will also help you more in making your decision on which platform you want to choose.

Let’s get this sorted shall we?

Every mobile app has a purpose to earn money. If that is not the case for you then my dear friend, you really want to reevaluate your decision to build an app in the first place.

Is reevaluation done?

Good, now you know you want to earn money from your mobile app. The question here is how you would like to proceed.

Some very common ideas to monetize your app are

• In-app purchase
• Subscription
• Pay per download
• Advertisement

Now in the further section of the post, I will describe which model of income is best platform-wise. So, buckle up ladies and gentlemen,

For the iOS Platform

Are you looking to charge your user to download the app? iOS is your best bet.

Don’t believe me? I bet you cannot refuse the given stats.

As per the stats above, you can see a clear difference between the two platforms. So, if you are going for the model where you want to charge your audience for each download, iOS is your best bet.

Just a piece of advice, if you are going to follow this method of monetizing, it will be costlier than offering free app. You need to have an expensive customer acquisition techniques. But yeah you will earn a ton of money in a single go.

For Android Platform

If you have other business models such as advertisements or in-app purchase, then I would suggest you go for the Android platform.

Have a look at these stats.

Yes, that is the fact that you will have less money in one go, however, with this model, the spread is too greater than you can ever anticipate. If you are good to go with this strategy, then you probably have loads of ways to come up with some engaging strategies off your sleeves.

If you want to know some tricks to add real-time features in your mobile apps, click here. 

Now let’s talk some more technicality.

Release Cycles

Yes, that’s the term for a developer I know but remember, I said I would cover everything above.
Being a developer seems to be clever because everyone in the industry knows that they are genius. However, even the cleverest can overlook this very minute but deciding factor.

Considering which software version your target audience are using with their platform, be it Android or iOS.
Let’s understand this factor and then we will wrap up for today.

For the iOS Platform

As we discussed above, iOS users tend to be highly educated and active youngsters. They tend to keep their device up to date every time.

Over 95% of people have an updated version of the software in their device.

This stat makes the development on iOS platform easy and for the long term as well. You don’t need to worry about the version of software your users are using currently.

For Android Platform

The stat for the Android platform is more on the other side of the graph. Less than 20% is up to date with the OS they are using in their devices, which make it virtually very difficult to contemplate which version your audience is using currently.

It makes the development process more complicated as you need to cover more and more version of OS in your release cycles.

Let’s Wind It Up For Now

So, which one should you choose for your first mobile app?

That depends.

I mean yes there is no version of the post where you will get a one-word answer. You need to watch out for your requirements and your audience for sure.

Once you get that figured out, the rest of the question is very easy to answer.

I hope you like my post. Please leave a like and comment below and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Adios for now fellas!!!