How do Freelance Developers and Companies earn money?

Don't be fooled by the price of mobile app development. Look at the long term costs.

Recently I got a call from a prospect. He wanted to get a mobile app developed and was shopping around for a freelancer or a company. I quoted him my price and he countered by stating that they already had a talk with another freelancer who was ready to do the work in 1/4th of the price I quoted. I told him that he is more than welcome to hire that person if he thinks that he will be getting a good deal but in reality it is not a good deal. Here's why:

Almost 99% of the freelance mobile app developers or mobile app development companies in India work on a simple model, which is actually taken from Inkjet printer companies (printers are very cheap but the ink is very costly). They will quote you very less amount so that you are tempeted to hire them in the first place. Once, you give them the contract or pay them, they will start extorting the money from you for a long time.

Let us take an example. Suppose you have a budget or Rs. 1L and time line of 1 month. You shop for a company or a freelancer and you utlimately settle on Rs. 50K as the price of a project to be delivered in 1 month. They will take advance from you and start the work. Then they will start delaying the project as they would be working on more than 3 projects simultaneously to offset the low cost and earn money. They will tell you all kinds of technical jargon. 1 month will become 3 months for you and will make you unhappy. You go back to them saying you are not happy with their performance and you want all the code to be given back to you. They will say NO and you will be stuck with them.

Then one day you want to get something changed like a spelling. They will quote you 5 times of the normal rate and will try to convince you that it is a huge time taking work, but in reality it will not take more than 15 minutes. They have succeeded in fooling you. You will have no choice but to given in to their demands and the project cost, which was supposed to be Rs. 50K, ultimately becomes Rs. 1.5L. So, you end up paying more than your budget.

I don't work like this. I will quote you what I think is the fair price for both of us and will not make a fool of you ever. If there is a delay, I will tell you why and be truthful about it. That is why I am expensive than most of the other mobile app developers or mobile app development companies in India.

Get in touch with me if you don't want to be fooled, don't want to over spend and want a trust worthy mobile app developer.

Always ask questions to service providers

Recently I met a prospective client and he told me that while searching for different companies for his requirement, he came across couple of them who marketed themselves saying that they have created apps for fortune 500 companies or major e-commerce players. On asking more, the sales guy told him that they have not actually done any work for them but are using their names for marketing.

This made my head spin and wonder that where have all the ethics of business gone? So, if you have come to my website looking for someone for your work, here are some of the points you should follow:

1. Ask how many apps they have built
2. Pick any one app from their portfolio and ask them to explain the process they followed
3. Ask for proofs that the apps are made by them. If they have proof like source code, logins etc. it means that they have developed the apps
4. Ask how will they approach your requirements
5. Ask them about the process of developing an app
6. Ask them that why is the tech they suggest good for your requirement
7. And ask a lot of other random questions till the time you are satisfied

Many companies/individuals don't want to reveal a lot and will try to keep you in dark. If you feel uncomfortable or do not trust them, refrain from hiring them. After all by giving them your project, you will be spending your hard earned money and will be stuck with them for a long time.

Why cross platform mobile development is need of the hour.

Cross platform mobile app development makes good business sense for startups.

I recently went to a startup meetup where I saw lot of demos for the mobile apps. All the startups were in the mobile app space and strangely enough, they had only Android based app ready for the market. When I asked them as to the status of the iOS app, everyone said that it is in development. Some of them even said that it will take them minimum 3 months to come to market with the iOS app.

I asked them why they are not building an iOS app simultaneously and they had the following answers:

• We don't have an iOS developer
• We can't afford a mac at this time
• It is easier to develop on Android
• It is easier to share the Android app screen via vysor app
• Our target market is dominated by Android apps
• We will build iOS app once we are sure that there are no bugs in our app
• We don't know any cross platform development technology
• We don't want to use cordova as the user experience is not good

By ignoring iOS app, these startups are making a grave mistake of ignoring that audience which will actually make money for them. It has been observed that iOS users are more likely to pay for apps or services than Android users Source.

One point which is very relevant is "We don't want to use cordova as the user experience is not good". Especially in India, cheaper Android phones dominate the market which have very bad configs. On these phones the cordova based app does not run very good and if you add crosswalk, the size increase is a lot. With bandwidth being very expensive, people are reluctant to download apps or update them very often.

This is where NativeScript comes in. For those of you who don't know what it is I recommend going through their website. By using NS, I can write native apps for both the platforms simultaneously and can share the same business logic on both the platforms. In my experience, business logic consists of 80% of the code base and only 20% is platform specific code. Writing and testing platform specific code will take less time than creating or porting the Android app to iOS. The biggest advantage in my opinion is that one developer can write code for both the platforms rather than 2 developers. This is a huge time and cost saver.

It makes a good business sense that companies embrace cross platform development and ditch pure native approach. Pure native approach has its place but that place is very small.

Mobile App Developers in Delhi

Are you looking for mobile app developers in Delhi NCR? I am a mobile app developer who creates mobile apps in Phonegap/Cordova and NativeScript and I am based out of Noida.

A Phonegap app is a good framework which lets you spend less and go to market quickly. But there are some shortcomings as the user experience is not upto the mark which the users expect on an Android Phone. On an iOS device like iPhone or iPad, you will not find any difference in the performance between phonegap app and native app.

A Native app is good for stability and a complex application but it is more expensive to develop. It takes at least 3 times more than a phonegap app to develop and as a result it is more expensive. I use NativeScript to develop native applications which is faster to develop and easier to maintain.

Get in touch to know more.

App Developers in Delhi

Are you looking for app developers in Delhi NCR? If yes, then you have come to the right place. I am an app developer who creates mobile apps in Phonegap/Cordova and NativeScript based out of Noida.

A Phonegap app is a good framework which lets you spend less and go to market quickly. But there are some shortcomings as the user experience is not upto the mark which the users expect on an Android Phone. On an iOS device like iPhone or iPad, you will not find any difference in the performance between phonegap app and native app.

A Native app is good for stability and a complex application but it is more expensive to develop. It takes at least 3 times more than a phonegap app to develop and as a result it is more expensive. I use NativeScript to develop native applications which is faster to develop and easier to maintain.

Get in touch to know more about mobile app development.