IOS Application Development – A Complete Guide

The Application (or Apps) market has taken the world by storm ever since the emergence of the smartphone. Apps have become an essential component of modern day phones, and are developed by a wide range of creators, from companies to people in their bedrooms. As a result mobile application developer companies have become a burgeoning industry- particularly on Apple’s popular iOS smartphone operating system. As a result, many companies and websites are looking to enter this market, and as such look for the right expertise and resources – but as with any rapidly expanding market, there is always the debate between using in-house application development and outsourcing it to other development companies.

iOS – A popular platform

Apple’s smartphone and tablet success amongst consumers is down to a combination of the simple iOS format as well as a powerful brand and reputation. This makes it an obvious choice of platform for mobile application development companies to develop for. But the reason for iOs’s success amongst app developers is also in part because of Apple’s easy to use programming language. The iOS is based on Apple’s objective-C programming language which is highly familiar to those used to C++. Because of this, iOS is an incredibly reliable platform for iOS mobile app developers, as there is relative freedom within the parameters of the operating system.

In-house or Outsourcing?

In an in-house company, the company’s management team have a much greater degree of supervision over the development process, and are far more able to oversee all stages of development. It also allows a greater degree of control in regards to a project’s schedule and allows the reduction of risk in the long term. Furthermore there is a lot more freedom in who can be chosen to work on the product. Due to the iOS’s popularity, there are many skilled developers for companies to choose from.

iOS lends itself very well to an in-house development, and there are many benefits for a mobile application development company to create apps in-house. However it can be costly to hire skilled developers and obtain the necessary licenses, as well as the technology required to create apps. That is where outsourcing becomes a useful alternative for development companies. Outsourcing is a far more cost effective option – rather than spending time hiring expensive and experienced developers, companies are able to outsource to companies with the appropriate technology and experience. It also guarantees a high quality end product.

iOS or Android?

Of course, iOS is not the only smartphone operating system on the market, with its major competitor being Google’s Android OS. So why is iOS mobile application development so much more popular than android? Apple’s iOS is uniform across all of its mobile devices, allowing ease of application creation for skilled developers. But Android is built on Java programming language, is open source, and is more beginner friendly for developers who are less experienced or lack the resources necessary to make full use of Apple’s iOS. Even with Android’s burgeoning popularity, many apps are still exclusive to iOS, both indicating a developer as well as consumer preference.

In short, there are several different considerations when exploring iOS mobile application development. The platform affords a company several different options, such as development in-house or outsourcing it to developers, and due to the popularity of the Apple smartphones, it gives a finished app product a large audience.