“Mobile” is no longer an emerging concept. It’s here and from all indication, the world of mobile has come to stay — the upshoot we’ve seen lately, in the adoption of mobile apps corroborates that. The irony however is, “mobile” is supposed to make things simple. On the contrary, knowing when, where and how to go “mobile” or plunge into the “mobile stream” may be complicated, especially for business owners.
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It’s easy to confuse building an app for building a mobile business. The two concepts are different. Anyone can easily be struck with an idea and build a mobile app around it. But it gets complicated when the big deal hits you — building a fully mobile-based business. Perhaps, we should clear up the discrepancy between both.
Mobile app versus mobile business
First, a mobile app is not equivalent to a mobile business. Apps can be developed around any idea but mobile businesses aren’t limited to mobile apps. When a business is mobile, it simply means the business is able to function flawlessly on any mobile.
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Unfortunately, most app developers are carried away by the awesome feeling of building a mobile app that seems to suit a “great idea” best. This is why as a business owner, you need to ensure your mobile app developers understand that there’s more to a successful app than a good product and a launch. While having a mobile app qualifies your product as mobile-based, if your website isn’t responsive on mobile browsers–be it Chrome, Opera, Safari, Mozilla, Explorer, you name it–your business is far from what a mobile business really is.
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With these in place, you still aren’t good to go. The works involved in building a mobile-based business aren’t finished, even after things look good on site and web. There’s more.
Mobile-based businesses aren’t just mobile-based
There are phases in building a mobile-based business: the “pre -”, “during”, and “post -” development stages. Everything concerning research, documentation, requirement gathering, features and mockups fall under the pre-development stage. It’s imperative that you start working out the right and best business model at this stage. Remember, you are building a mobile-based business and not just a mobile app. You could either go for the “pay-to-download” model or an “ad-supported” model if you plan to reach and engage a large audience over time — which often makes more sense.
During the app development, you must work together with your project development team to ensure that everything needed to optimise the website is in place, for efficient operation on your app, as well as mobile web browsers.
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After you’ve successfully developed your minimum viable product (MVP), there’s need to measure your metrics, gather feedbacks and iterate accordingly. In this case, your metrics aren’t just number of downloads — as many developers see it. Beyond the downloads, what counts is the interaction and engagement of your audience with your new business, be it via the mobile app or web browsers. Based on the feedback obtained, you should place your mobile business under further development and iteration until you get “there”. Then again, no business ever really gets “there”. Giant as they are, companies like Facebook, Google and Microsoft keep iterating, innovating and getting users’ feedbacks regularly.
Do you find this piece helpful and want to get in touch, or are you worried you might not find the perfect team that understands your mobile business needs? We are here for you!
We are Charisol, a software development agency with a community of talented software developers that leverage on the “work without walls” culture to provide solutions for clients around the world. Our services span Software designing, App development, Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Content Writing & Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation. Follow us here on Medium or on social (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn).
