Mobile App Development Outsourcing Trends In 2015

Smartphones have made our life very easy and comfortable, many daily life works can be done very quickly and efficiently with the help of mobile apps. Whether it is shopping, booking of flight ticket or getting in touch with friends, everything is possible within a few seconds. Today, every person is making a good use of smartphone apps. The increasing number of app users proves that smartphone app development will be the highly demanding and competitive industry in coming years.

To be a winner of this highly demanding industry, every mobile app development company makes efforts and stays updated with industry trends. But finding the right trends and information that takes an app development company to newer heights is not easy.

Recently, ContractIQ has taken interviews of more than 500 mobile app development firms and prepared a report that shows current mobile industry trends. ContractIQ talked to 11% of mobile development agencies, 31% of mobile design and development agencies and 58% of product engineers and comes to the result that:

• 65% of total agencies are earning more than 50% of their revenue from mobiles
• iOS and Android development specialist are at the top with the market share of 25% and 26%.

• Windows specialists are behind from Android and iOS with the market share of only 13%.
• 20% of market share is based on all above three platforms.
• Enterprise mobile application specialists are at the trailing position with only 12%.

Major Sources of Business in Mobile App Development Industry

ContractIQ has divided the mobile industry into 4 major business categories that provide business to mobile app development industry, they are listed below:-

Startups

Startups have proven to be a major source of mobile app business with 37% of the approximate ratio. New aspirants believe that startups are the good source of economy and an ultimate way to start the career. In this non-hiring industry, it is better to convert your ideas and skills into your own business instead of looking for an employer.

Hobbyists Business

The hobbyists Business category has a very small ratio of 10 % only.

Enterprise Companies

Enterprise mobile app development business holds only 23% of the total industry share. It is the most challenging field among all kinds of mobile app development because it needs superior experts to build, manage and integrate the apps which can’t be accomplished by any ordinary development firm.

Small Companies

The study shows that small mobile app development industries are not behind in the race, this segment contains 30% of the market ratio which is a digit.

From the above four points, it is clear that around 47% of business is based on only startups and hobbyist businesses. The top 4 mobile app development players Oracle, IBM, SAP, SalesForce hold approximately equal market shares of 19%, 19%, 20% and 22%, respectively.

Contribution of Customers in Expansion of Mobile App Business

• 40% of mobile app development companies believe that 25% of the customer makes their business viable by building a long lasting relationship with them.
• 60% companies said that 25% of their customers have considered using in-app monetization which shows that a very little ratio of customers is aware of monetizing their apps.
• When it comes to the salaries of app developers, 38% companies believe that app developer’s salaries are rightly priced whereas 34% believes that salaries are lower than what they should be. Only 28% said that salaries are overly priced.

It has been observed that outsourcing mobile app development work within a range of realistic budget is difficult. But, now it has become simple and easy with the help of ContractIQ price benchmark reports which tell about major mobile app development markets and their pricing. From this report, companies can decide which outsourcing country would be in their budget.

The charges of mobile app development vary with countries. Compared to the other major countries, Canada and USA are charging very high ($250 and $225 per hour) for the iOS and Android app development, whereas Indonesia is charging the lowest price ($20 and $18). The report says the price hike will continue to rise in forthcoming years for all platforms. The maximum price hike has been seen in Android and iOS with 58% and 52% respectively, as both are the most demanding mobile development platforms.

With the rising trends of building native as well as cross-platform apps, mobile development companies are increasingly trying to have their own SDKs. Here are some facts that have been observed by contractIQ:-

• Around half of the mobile app development companies are using one to five SDKs in their apps.
• Just a one-third of companies don’t require third party SDKs in their apps and remaining three-forth are utilizing SDKs built by other companies.
• 33% of companies feel that there would be 25% to 50% increase in the SDK used by them in their apps
• Companies need to build awareness about SDKs and API
• Only 10% of customers know that which SDK and API they should have in their apps
• Just a one-fourth of customers know that which analytic tool should be used to keep track of apps.

According to the ContractIQ survey of customers, it is revealed that most of the customers are unaware about SDKs and APIs in mobile application development. Also, very few customers know how to monetize their apps. So, mobile app development companies still need to create awareness among the customers about SDKs & APIs.

Conclusion

Nowadays, a smartphone is not just a device for entertainment, its applications can help in creating a strong brand awareness as well as play a vital role in the business. Most of the companies think that outsourcing the development of mobile apps is the better option instead of hiring developers. But they need to understand that outsourcing depends on many factors like business goals, budget etc. One wrong decision can bring detrimental effect on a business, but this report by ContractIQ will certainly help companies to effectively outsource mobile app development in 2015.

---