A Design and Discovery session adheres to a design thinking framework and helps businesses: 

• Determine the purpose of the mobile product and how it aligns with business goals;
• Define business outcomes;
• Identify market viability through competitive research; 
• Create user personas rooted in extensive user research;
• Communicate and justify a product’s concept with user journeys, wireframes, and mockups;
• Create and prioritize a scalable product roadmap;
• Enter the market quickly with the most impactful and useful features. 

Typically, Design and Discovery sessions fully define the scope of a brand new mobile app; however, practicing design thinking also carries many benefits for reimagining, rebuilding, and expanding existing mobile apps. In some cases (and for many reasons), mobile apps don’t always perform as expected and businesses need to revisit mobile strategies to effectively reach product goals. In these cases, Design and Discovery helps businesses: 

• Reorganize existing mobile product strategies to better align with business goals;
• Outline a clear vision of how the product will scale;
• Develop an app analytics strategy;
• Validate market opportunities;
• Realign product features with user needs based on research rather than assumptions;
• Further define a user retention strategy and opportunities for long-term growth.

A Design and Discovery session works through four high-priority areas of product management: product strategy, product definition, visualization, and presentation. This article will expand on each of these areas, as well as the steps within each stage.

Design and Discovery

1. Product Strategy 

The first phase of a Design and Discovery workshop involves fully understanding the requirements and expectations of the mobile product. This helps to properly define a product strategy. This phase aligns with the Empathize and Define stages in the design thinking framework. 

By using strategic empathy, product teams can adopt a similar perspective to the customer or end-user of the product. Empathy also helps product teams think more broadly about personal assumptions and recognize that users have individual needs and expectations. Adopting the perspective of the end-user allows product teams to extrapolate customer needs more accurately. 

The steps involved in the Product Strategy phase culminate to define: 

1. The purpose and goal of the mobile product;
2. The business case the product serves;
3. Challenges the product intends to solve;
4. The target audience’s needs.

Furthermore, it produces the following deliverables: 

1. A project timeline;
2. Documented product requirements;
3. A product vision statement;
4. User personas;
5. A list of marketable features.

Creating a Product Vision Statement 

A product vision statement creates a definite sense of direction towards the end goal of the application. What’s more, a vision statement defines the solution to the problem end-users are facing. A concentrated product vision statement: 

1. Explicitly defines who will be using the product;
2. Expresses the solution to the problem those users are facing;
3. Differentiates the product from what currently exists in the market. 

A product vision statement establishes a concrete area of focus for the mobile product. Consequently, this helps businesses set specific success criteria and clear objectives to determine what features the product needs to be successful. This process of defining a product vision statement allows all of the project stakeholders to visualize the product in context, rather than as a catalog of features and design efforts. 

Creating User Personas 

User personas shape the foundation of user experience (UX) design. The practice of UX design hinges on the idea that frequently used and well-liked mobile apps are designed for people using empathy and known patterns of human-machine interaction. 

A user persona is a tool that transforms data into a realistic character with wants, needs, motivations, and frustrations. That means that user personas help product teams understand and empathize with people who will use the product. They can then create a solution that fits the context of the user’s goals.

Identifying Marketable Features 

It’s essential to identify what features will make the product both usable and useful. This means that choosing the most impactful features for a mobile app is a planning process that requires product teams to fully define the product vision, objectives, and success criteria. The best features for your mobile app will become apparent naturally as the team thoroughly maps out how to achieve both business and product goals. 

2. Product Definition

The Product Definition phase of Design and Discovery directly relates to the Ideation stage of design thinking. Accordingly, during this phase product teams generate, capture, and prioritize the core features of a minimum viable product (MVP). Moreover, for existing apps this phase revisits features to ensure they’re properly aligned with user needs. 

The process begins by creating a master list of all the features to include in the product. Next, using this list, product teams start organizing and cutting features to keep the product useful, lean, and user-friendly. A common tactic for selecting essential product features is a prioritization matrix, which is included in our downloadable MVP template.

This method helps determine which features are mandatory, which features will come later, and which features to eliminate entirely. Remember, it’s not feasible to implement every feature in the first version of your mobile app. Therefore it’s essential to eliminate any features from existing products that are not supporting the product’s success criteria. 

The steps involved in the Product Definition help product teams: 

1. Ask the right questions and innovate;
2. Create quantity and variety in product features;
3. Identify feature solutions that are not immediately apparent;
4. Combine multiple perspectives, strengths, and experiences in a team setting.

They also produce the following deliverables: 

1. A prioritized list of product features;
2. User journeys.

Prioritizing Mobile App Features

While companies typically have a long wish list of features to include in a mobile product, it’s critical to limit the number and focus on only what’s necessary to achieve the product’s success criteria. As a means of identifying product features, it’s important to focus on the following questions: 

1. What is the number one problem users are experiencing? 
2. How will the functionality of the product solve that problem? 

Creating User Journeys

User journeys are another core element of UX design. A user journey is a series of actions a user performs to achieve a particular goal within the mobile product. Therefore user journeys are how a product will provide user value by creating an intuitive direction towards solving a pain point. At the same time, a user journey delivers business value by guiding users to the desired conversion point. 

3. Visualization 

The third stage of Design and Discovery focuses on creating a visual solution that details the product’s UX and user interface (UI) design. 

The steps involved in the Visualization phase define: 

1. The visual representation of the finalized user journeys;
2. Capture user value in the product’s UX and UI design.

Additionally, they produce an important deliverable: 

1. Product wireframes.

The Importance of Wireframes

Once you establish the goal and audience for your mobile product, you need to record the exact actions a user must take to complete the product goal. Not only does Design and Discovery provide you with a prioritized list of product features, the process also provides wireframed maps of how those features come together to create the entire user experience. Thus, wireframes outline step-by-step how a user will move through the app. 

It can be very tempting to skip wireframing and move right into prototyping a mobile product; however, wireframing is a crucial step in the process. Wireframing is another testing step in the build-measure-learn process of mobile app development. A few of the core benefits of wireframing include: 

1. Defining information architecture and content;
2. Reducing rework and revisions;
3. Encouraging client and stakeholder feedback.

What’s the difference between wireframing and prototyping? 

At a high-level, mobile app wireframes are low-fidelity, basic layout, and structural guidelines whereas prototypes are advanced representations with more visual detail and interaction. 

4. Presentation

The Presentation phase of Design and Discovery is the final phase of the workshop when all the deliverables come together to create a clickable app prototype. Prototyping allows enough time to make changes to critical design issues before the product reaches development, and it becomes too late (and too expensive) to make major changes to the UX.

The mobile app prototyping stage helps product teams learn how users interact with the “rough draft” of a product to uncover new solutions or determine whether the existing solution is successful. What is learned from a prototype allows the product team to reframe one or several of the problems identified from the previous Design and Discovery stages. As a result, every stakeholder on the project has a more accurate understanding of the challenges users face when they use the product in the context of their life. 

The Benefits of Design and Discovery 

Beginning mobile app development properly helps establish business outcomes and an overall product vision to maximize your return on investment. A Design and Discovery session gives you time with mobile subject matter experts who can help you understand mobile-first best practices. As a result, you improve your chances of winning investor buy-in.

Using this approach to product management allows product teams to focus on both the utility of the app (is it really solving a problem and adding value?) and the usability (what is the user’s experience with the product?). This provides the foundation necessary to begin developing a product that will truly add value for your users and have a much greater chance of success in the market. Accordingly, a concrete list of benefits includes: 

1. Maximizing return on investment (ROI);
2. Establishing business outcomes and a product vision;
3. Identifying and prioritizing product features;
4. Gaining access to mobile subject matter experts;
5. Understanding mobile-first best practices;
6. Determining app metrics and success criteria;
7. Validating product ideas before investing in development services;
8. Achieving stakeholder and investor buy-in.

Design and Discovery is also notably valuable for managing scope creep, which occurs when a project grows far beyond its original size. If you haven’t properly defined the product, scope creep will likely occur, often deviating from the initial agreement of the product. Changes during product development are likely to happen; however, it’s easy to let scope creep take control of your original vision and strategy. Once you establish product definition, your team must carefully consider changes in the plan if they arise. Design and Discovery ensures that the project remains focused on a goal, saving money and time in the long run.

View Our Case Studies 

• The Dynacare Plus app 
• ParticipACTION
• McMaster University’s JoyPop

If you have any interest in developing an app for foldable devices that can provide an even better experience than smartphones, there are a number of important things to consider.

What Are Foldable Devices?

Generally speaking, when someone refers to a foldable device, they’re talking about a smartphone (however, foldable tablets may be available soon as well) with a display that can unfold into a double-size full screen. These devices offer significantly more space for consuming content, reading, gaming, and more. The fact that the device is foldable also makes it more convenient to transport.

These new mobile devices rely on the use of a flexible OLED display. Such displays are so malleable, users can interact with the phone by twisting, bending, and folding the display like paper. This, in turn, offers developers an opportunity to get creative with their designs.

Types of Apps For Foldable Devices

Foldable screens are more than simply a gimmick – they’re here to stay. This is thanks to the multiple benefits and use cases they provide. Current apps for foldable devices tend to fall into one of three categories:

Media Apps

Applications for internet browsing, news, social media, and entertainment have been seen as a priority for foldable device app developers. That’s because this technology is perfect for users who like to multitask. With a foldable device, users can have multiple windows open; they can watch a video while simultaneously posting to social media and messaging a friend.

Productivity Apps

In another win for multitaskers, productivity apps for foldable devices utilize the extra display space to present more and varied information. Team and task management apps can be adapted to allow for both multi-tab and full-screen viewing on foldable devices.

Software Development & Testing

When building or testing the development of a mobile app, it’s advantageous to be able to see the code, the output, and the development tools all at once. It’s for this reason that a lot of the focus of app development for foldable devices has been on development environments, frameworks, and testing software.

The Future of Apps For Foldable Devices

Of course, with the foldable device market set to hit $29 billion, with 27.6 million devices, by 2025, the breadth of apps for foldable devices is set to explode as well. And thanks to the advantages of the larger screen, apps can be more innovative with their UX and UI.

Of course, before you jump straight into developing apps for foldable devices, it’s of critical importance to understand the unique design and technological considerations.

Developing Apps For Foldable Devices

Design Considerations

Folded & Unfolded States

One of the unique features of foldable devices is that they have two states: an unfolded and a folded screen.

Consequently, the unfolded screen, often called “tablet mode,” is ideal for a more immersive experience of any given application’s functions. Furthermore, the additional screen space offers developers more room to add context, secondary functions, or incidents within the app.

That said, a device in its folded state must still function as any smartphone would. That means developers need to optimize apps for both one and two hands.

One- & Two-Handed Apps

The nature of a foldable device’s dual states means the design team has some decisions to make. For example, what aspects of the UI and UX do they intend to modify for the folded and unfolded states? Designing apps for foldable devices means you’ll need to optimize the screen for use by the thumb and fingers for both states of the device.

Seamless Screen Continuity

Thanks to the functionality of foldable devices, it is a certainty that users will constantly switch between the folded and unfolded states. Therefore, you’ll need a development team that can handle making the screen transitions between these states seamless. Any large modifications to the applications continuity when switching from one state to the next will interrupt the user experience. That means any changes need to be kept to a minimum and should be based on location, features, and screen size.

Multi-Window Performance

One of the most unique aspects to developing apps for foldable devices is the opportunity for multi-tasking. Apps for foldable devices have the freedom to run multiple tabs functions at the same time. Consider giving these windows the ability to interact with each other via drag-and-drop, receive updates (e.g. when a change is applied to one window, it is immediately shown in all windows), send alerts or notifications, etc.

Technical Considerations

Multi-Window Functionality

Of course, with multi-window performance a design priority, multi-window functionality must also be a technical priority. Previously, most smart devices allowed only one or two apps to run at once, and paused the functionality of any others. In order to allow users the flexibility of accessing more apps simultaneously, you’ll need to opt-in the multi-resume feature. This allows multiple apps to function at once, without pausing any, and delivers an uninterrupted experience.

Application Continuity

As you might expect, application continuity refers to an app’s ability to seamlessly transition from the folded state to the unfolded state of the device. The key technical consideration here is to make sure the app resizes appropriately when switching between states. Developers must ensure the app resizes using dynamic resizing.

Some developers believe this step can be skipped, as many systems can resize apps automatically. This, however, is flawed thinking. In reality, there is no guarantee your app will switch to the proper size, aspect ratio, or configuration if you leave it to resize automatically.

Testing Screen Ratios

Starting with Android 10, and all subsequent Android operating system releases, a wide range of aspect ratios are now supported. When considering apps for foldable devices, it’s important to remember that they differ greatly from the long and thin displays standard to non-foldable devices. For this reason it is important to test your app’s screen ratios with as many screen dimensions as possible.

Application Testing

Finally, the most critical step is to test your app’s functionality. It is vital that you inspect your mobile app before launch to guarantee it looks and functions as it should on a foldable device.

Consider testing your app’s:

• Configuration changes from folded and unfolded states;
• Multi-window view and multi-resume view;
• Resizing and screen ratios.

Closing Thoughts

While foldable devices are still relatively new, it’s already clear they are bringing plenty of changes with them. There’s no denying this technology holds incredible potential, and if applied properly, may have a revolutionary impact on a variety of industries. Now is the perfect time for companies and development teams to get ahead of the innovation curve.

In the end, the development of apps for foldable devices is based on already-existing mobile app development best practices. That means that development teams with experience building responsive apps will have no trouble adapting their skills for foldable devices.

Keep Reading:

Sports Betting App Development: A Basic Guide

50 Mobile App Statistics for App Growth in 2022

6 Steps for a Successful Mobile App Launch

Thinking about diving into the world of sports betting apps? Here’s what you’ll need to know about sports betting app development.

How Does Sports Betting Work?

The basics of gambling haven’t changed much over the centuries: you risk money on the prediction of a certain outcome – if you’re right, you get a reward; if you’re wrong, you lose your money.

While this core concept is simple, today’s sports betting comes in a variety of styles. You’ll need to be familiar with each of them to create a profitable mobile app.

5 Popular Kinds of Sports Bets

Moneyline

Moneyline betting is straightforward: you place a bet on who wins, and get a reward, the size of which depends on if your winner is the favorite or an underdog. For example, placing a $500 bet on the favorite might result in $100 in winnings. However, placing a $100 bet on an underdog might get you $500 when they win, depending on odds.

Head-to-Head

Head-to-head betting is an aspect of Moneyline in which you bet on a single winner. Examples come from horse and auto racing.

Parlays

Also referred to as accumulator bets, parlays combine many bets into one wager. Potential profits are increased as more bets are added. On the other hand, if any of the bets in the pool lose, the entire wager is lost.

Teaser

A variation on the parlay, in teaser bets you receive a smaller payoff when the point spread shifts in your favor. Sports betting apps targeting basketball, soccer, and football can get the most benefit from teaser betting.

Prop Bets

While gambling is common and widespread, many people have never placed a sports bet before. The best sports betting apps keep this group in mind and offer a fun and easy introduction with prop bets. These sorts of bets are designed to require no knowledge of the sport or the teams playing. Prop bets might include, for example, which team will win the coin toss, or which team will score first, even as farfetched as how many yards a certain pass rusher will accumulate during a football game. Prop bets are typically undertaken for the entertainment value and don’t necessarily require in depth knowledge of the sport. They’re just for fun with little to no strategy involved.

Sports Betting App Development: Key Features & Functionality

Any successful sports betting application will include two main components: the admin panel and the user panel.

Admin Panel

The admin panel of a sports betting app handles financial transactions, regulates new users, and monitors the app’s performance. Furthermore, this dashboard needs to include an adequate toolkit to examine user activity and present important metrics. As users sign up and revenue increases, these analytics will become invaluable for things like adjusting marketing, offers, sports selection, targeting, and your overall business plan. This makes it a critical part of the sports betting app development process.

To ensure all of this, the admin panel will need features like:

Dashboard

One of the most important features to include in the admin panel is the dashboard. From here, all the features of the admin panel can be accessed.

User Management

Here, the admin can supervise actions performed by both bettors and regular users. Users can then be banned when discrepancies or malicious activity is discovered.

Prize & Payment Management

This allows admins to manage payments received from users as bets, and distribute prize payment to winners.

Game Management

With game management, admins can modify bet limits on individual games or matches, while observing the ongoing events.

Bookmaker Management

Bookmaker management is so critical that, without it, you can’t make bets. Here, admins can easily apply the best betting process to ensure the best user experience.

Revenue Management

This feature helps the admin manage all revenue generated from user betting. What’s more, they can control money transactions like game fees, distribution of prize money, withdrawal, and refund requests, etc.

Marketing Tools

Including a marketing tool in the admin panel allows for the implementation of several marketing strategies, including promotional messages, social media messages, email marketing, and more.

User Panel

The user panel is what your customers will see when they use the app. As such, there are several critical features to include:

Registration

Users should be able to create an account and log in and out of it. You’ll need to know the regulations for the areas in which you are operating and apply methods for preventing minors from accessing the app.

Menu

A menu in the panel is crucial, in that it allows users access to all the features and functionality your app offers. This may include the user’s account, bets, wallet, notification, settings, friends, etc. What’s more, an app offering betting on several sports should provide a list of options in the main menu.

How-To Guides

Include an easy to access – and understand – guide that explains each type of betting. This way, users don’t have to leave the application to get information.

Betting

This is the most important aspect of any sports betting application. The objective is a simple and intuitive user interface. It should easily guide users through each step of the betting process. The more straightforward the betting process is, the more willing people will be to participate.

Schedules & Statistics

Gambling is a numbers game. For that reason, you’ll need to help users stay informed on game schedules, expert commentary, future match-up odds, and thorough team and player statistics. The more detailed your statistics, the more confidence users will have – and confidence encourages betting.

Live Scoreboard

Provide real-time scores to keep users engaged. This encourages them to place bets and use the app more frequently.

Wagers

Users should always have access to their existing bets.

Wallet

Users will want to link their credit cards and payment systems to the application. Make it easy for them to do so. This way, after the initial setup, making a wager is as simple as a single finger tap.

Notifications

Your users will want to be notified about important events, game results, and new messages. When it comes to exciting news and bet outcomes, push notifications are advantageous.

Challenges Involved With Sports Betting App Development

The nature of mobile application development always means you’ll need to navigate significant budgetary and technological challenges. However, when it comes to sports betting app development, there are also several layers of legal concerns to plan for.

Regional Laws & Regulations

Before you begin the sports betting app development process, you’ll need to obtain a gambling license. Sports betting is not legal everywhere, which means you’ll need to apply for licenses in each country and state you want to launch your app in.

You’ll need to navigate gambling regulations that differ between countries, states, and provinces. This is critical, as the distinctions – even between neighboring jurisdictions – can be significant. For example, sports betting is legal in thirty-two states and Washington DC, however, online/mobile sports betting is legal in only eighteen of them. Legally, your app cannot be accessed outside of those eighteen states.

App Stores

In addition to the legal regulations, you’ll need to stay on top of app store regulations. App stores also have restrictions for gambling apps and failure to adhere to them risks your place in the store.

Google Play Store

The Google Play Store’s guidelines for betting apps include:

• Your app must comply with all applicable laws and industry standards for each country in which it is distributed;
• Developer must have a valid gambling license for each country or state/territory in which the app is distributed;
• Developer must not offer a type of gambling product that exceeds the scope of its gambling license;
• You must prevent under-age users from using the app;
• Your app must prevent access and use from countries, states and provinces, or the geographic areas not covered by the developer-provided gambling license;
• App must not be purchasable as a paid app on Google Play, nor use Google Play In-app Billing;
• Your app must be rated AO (Adult Only) or IARC equivalent; and
• Your app and its app listing must clearly display information about responsible gambling.

 Apple App Store

Apple’s App Store guidelines are similar to Google’s, and in addition includes:

• Apps may not use in-app purchase to purchase credit or currency for use in conjunction with real money gaming of any kind.
• Sports betting apps must have necessary licensing and permissions in the locations where the app is used, must be geo-restricted to those locations, and must be free on the App Store.

Closing Thoughts

Recently, as new markets have opened, sports betting apps have exploded in popularity. This increase has shown that the market is extremely profitable – but also highly competitive. Consequently, the first step to success is to be specific with your goals. Sports betting is a wide industry – choose your niche before proceeding further. From there, you’ll need a professional, knowledgeable, and dedicated team to help you through the ins-and-outs of sports betting app development.

Keep Reading:

How to Plan a Minimum Viable Product: Free MVP Template

How to Prioritize Features For Your Mobile App MVP

To justify all the time, effort, and investment that went into building your MVP, it is critical that you understand how to scale it properly. Here, we’ll discuss not only some of the challenges businesses face when it’s time to scale their MVP, but also the best tips for moving forward to a successful, full-scale product.

MVP Scaling Challenges

Starting off with an MVP is not only easier than trying to produce a complete product from scratch, it’s a mobile application development best practice. This is thanks to the fact that MVPs are simple to build, test, and deploy. That said, when it comes time to expand your solution, making changes and fixing problems can become more difficult.

Here are a couple of the common challenges associated with scaling up an application:

Loss of Focus

Making sure workers and stakeholders are in agreement when it comes to development and project strategy is always difficult. But it tends to become increasingly difficult as an MVP is expanded. In the effort to provide solutions for customers, and to entice new users with exciting features, the vision that drove the MVP can be lost. It is up to the development team to keep the project focused on its expressed goals.

Development Driven By Sales

Another roadblock when it comes to scaling mobile apps can be an overly pushy sales department. This occurs when sales tells the development team, “I need you to include this specific feature immediately so I can close this big deal.”

This may be a powerful argument for those whose primary concern is the bottom line. But it can cause long-term application planning to go off the rails.

5 Tips for Scaling Mobile Apps Beyond the MVP

The entire point of creating a minimum viable product is to validate the goals you have for your application. That said, the real work begins after your MVP has been built. That’s because it’s now time to scale it up to something users actively seek out to solve their problems. Here are five of the top tips to help you with scaling mobile apps beyond your MVP.

Identify Gaps Through Customer Feedback & Data Collection

Often, the best feature ideas come from users themselves. When people start using your MVP app, ask them what could be improved. This feedback is extremely valuable and one of the smartest and most effective ways to make your app better. This means you’ll need proper support tools and services so your users can request help when they need it, and provide this critical feedback. It’s often this quality of support, coupled with a fantastic user experience that will set you apart from the competition. Make it as easy as possible for your users to get – and provide – help and guidance.

What’s more, it’s important to respond to all user criticisms, both good and bad. Users that offer negative feedback are actually providing you with valuable information by pointing out issues that you can correct as you scale your MVP.

Of course, active feedback isn’t the only way to learn from your users. Customer input can also be captured through quantitative analytics and research – both valuable tools for a successful scaling strategy. As you build up from MVP to full-scale solution, keep track of user behaviors, interactions, and drop-offs at each touchpoint of your app. This will help you find features that might need to be added, removed, or simply improved.

Focus On Your App’s Goals

Nothing – not expensive marketing, strategic pricing, or flashy features – can save a bad product. That’s why it’s so critical to focus on the solutions you want your app to provide through effective mobile application development. If your app suffers from bugs, poor customer support, or bad design, the cards are already stacked against it. Users’ expectations are only growing more and more discerning. Therefore, creating a great mobile app that does what you set out to make it to do should be your priority.

As previously discussed, user feedback and research is a critical step in this process. As is the implementation of various tools to accurately measure and analyze your app’s performance. All this helps to improve your app’s functionality, and in turn, makes it more successful on the market.

In order to deliver on your app’s solutions, you’ll need excellent mobile front- and back-end. That means working with experts in mobile application development is critical for success. You won’t want to push out new features before they’re ready to go. That only creates issues and leads to drops in quality and user satisfaction.

The Advantage of Cloud Computing

One of the biggest leaps forward when it comes to scaling mobile apps is the advancement of cloud computing. As the cloud has become more effective, cloud services are able to quickly widen in scope for short experimentation periods. As you receive useful consumer feedback, cloud computing makes adding functionality simple and convenient.

This is because cloud computing lowers the burden of the device your app is running on, thus easing long-term capacity planning. That means more focus on implementing and improving the core functionality.

What’s more, once your scaled app becomes available, cloud services can help improve your margins and continue scaling for even more growth.

Test & Analyze, Then Test & Analyze Again

The best approach to scaling mobile apps emphasizes continuous improvements to the product. That means that quality control, quality assurance, and testing should all be integral to the process. Every metric that you tracked from your MVP launch, onward – traffic, abandoned shopping carts, conversions, social interactions, user comments and feedback, etc. – are valuable and continue to be so. With this information in hand, you can perform A/B testing to improve both the customer journey and the user experience – not to mention the application itself. A thorough analysis and implementation of these results contributes to a continuously upgraded application, improved UX, and better overall user satisfaction.

Implementing a Pricing Strategy

Often, the subject of pricing comes up during the development of the MVP. But your MVP isn’t always the place for this discussion.

The reason for developing an MVP in the first place is to address specific pain points, not to create a slapdash product.

However, users that adopt your MVP may pay for it with the promise that what they spend their money on will be upgraded when your full-solution goes live. In this case, your MVP is a valuable tool to analyze your pricing strategy. Keep track of visitors and conversations. At what price point does the traffic fall off? Studying metrics like these can help you decide on an appropriate pricing structure when your finished product is ready to go to market.

Wrapping Up

Every application takes time to go from MVP to full-solution, and then on to wide-spread adoption by users. The path forward after an MVP launch isn’t always straightforward. That means that having the best team possible on your side from the beginning is critical. But once you have the team and a plan in place, scaling up the mobile MVP app your users already enjoy is much easier!

Keep Reading:

How 5G Apps are Changing Mobile Application Development

How Design Thinking Leads to a Better Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

When is it Time to Find a New Mobile App Development Partner: A Guide for Enterprises

VR Defined

Before we dive into how VR application development works, it’s important that we define our terms. VR technology works as a sort of science fiction teleporter, which brings users from their own environment into a fully immersive simulated one. While it does not physically transfer people to another space, it does give the user that feeling.

This differs from augmented reality (AR), where additional information is laid over the real world. One wildly popular example of AR is all the filters available for video conferencing apps. It is also different from mixed reality (MR), where both digital and real-world objects exist in the user’s perception at the same time. One such example of MR is from education; the Microsoft Hololens has been used by Western Reserve University in Ohio to teach anatomy to medical students. With VR, the entire environment is virtually simulated. The most obvious example of VR are the plethora of games available for platforms like the Meta Quest 2. These games create a 100% virtual environment for gamers to explore. 

How Does it Work?

A variety of devices can provide a realistic VR experience, but the most direct approach is with a VR headset. These devices, while all somewhat unique, each react to the movements of the user’s head and eyes. In other words, when you turn your head to the left, the display moves accordingly.

To enhance this further, a stereoscopic display creates a 3D simulation. Compared with more familiar 2D technology, 3D stereoscopic displays have an increased number of pixels. This helps to give even more depth and definition to the image and environment. Basically, the technology in each VR headset helps trick your mind into perceiving the virtual world in the same way it perceives the real world, thus creating a fully immersive experience. Some headsets take this a step further and incorporate additional sensory information like sounds or touch.

Of course, interactivity is what really makes VR truly immersive. Users should have the ability to control their navigation through the simulated space. The idea is to give them the feeling that they are in control and can move about and interact with things, as if they were actually there.

The VR Application Development Process

Mobile application development companies are already at the forefront of improving and disseminating the use of VR technology. This is largely done through the integration of VR application development. VR has proven to be one of the hottest app development trends and has already been embraced by many large companies. Big businesses like Sony, Meta, and Samsung have already created VR enabled devices and apps, for example, Meta’s VR social platform Horizon Worlds.

No matter the industry, VR application development follows a similar path.

Step 1: Define App Concept & Goals

Before diving into the “how,” it’s first important to address the “what.” The most important step in creating a VR app is to define clear goals for what you want your app to achieve. It is only once you know what you want to build that you can start to answer the question of how you’re going to build it. Without clear goals and parameters, you’ll never have a clear vision. Without a clear vision, you can’t create a cohesive and precise VR experience.

When defining your app’s goals, it’s critical to look at your app from the point of view of the user. What will they expect? What do you want them to experience? At this stage, features that create an immersive and compelling experience must be considered.

Step 2: Platforms

Once you have a clearly defined concept and goals for your app, it’s time to begin the actual development process. The first part of this process is to choose an appropriate platform and a software development kit (SDK). Choosing a platform is an essential part of the development process and can have direct influence over app adoption rates. This, in turn, has a big effect on revenue.

Consider these questions when deciding on a platform:

• Are you developing for Android, iOS, or both?
• Which devices are you considering?
• Are you developing your VR app inside VR providers, like Oculus, or will it be stand-alone?

 Some VR platforms, like SteamVR, XboxVR, and Oculus Home provide a complete set of VR development tools. If you choose one of these platforms and utilize their tools, you won’t need any further software installation.

Step 3: VR Engines

Another critical element to VR application development is the selection of an appropriate engine. Often referred to as “game engines,” engines store all the data that users will see and interact with in the virtual environment. What’s more, engines render all the virtual images, and provide the input methods users will ultimately use. The most popular VR engines include Unreal Engine 4, Unity, Google VR, and Amazon Sumerian.

Many of today’s engines are available to use for free. Additionally, some engines are easily integrated with specific software SDKs and multiple application programming interfaces (APIs) can be used to customize the engine to your app’s specific needs.

Step 4: Hardware

When it comes to mobile VR application development, there are two main categories for the types of devices available for experiencing VR:

• Handheld VR viewers: These devices are quite basic and do not offer a head strap. That means the virtual environment is experienced by attaching the mobile device to the VR viewer and holding it up to the user’s eyes. This style of VR hardware has only one point of input – the smartphone itself. Cardboard-compatible designs, like Google’s discontinued Google Cardboard, are an example of this.

• Wearable VR Head-Mounted-Displays (HMDs): HMDs are more technologically robust than handheld VR viewers and often include some form of controller for improved input. They allow a smartphone to be inserted into the headset, offer strapping in different forms, and include features to enhance the VR experience.

 Deciding on the kind of hardware you want to use to run your VR app is critical. Generally speaking, it’s preferable to choose an option that is battery-efficient and comfortable to use.

Step 5: Designing & Prototyping

As with other applications, VR app development involves a lot of design. After all, what good is a VR environment if it doesn’t look good? When it comes to designing a VR app, it’s wise for developers to consider prototyping the VR experience. This aids in testing concepts and systems, and validating the app’s original goals.

Additionally, prototyping helps test that your virtual environment accurately conveys a sense of scale, uses all the hardware’s sensors correctly, has an accurate user viewing position, and more.

Step 6: Distribution & Monetization

Finally, every VR application needs distribution, marketing, and a way to monetize it. This will depend largely on your budget. Distribution in Apple’s App Store or Google Play is nearly free, but app marketing will remain a major consideration. Social media marketing has a low publishing cost, but you may want to consider paid social strategies to improve reach.

When it comes to monetization, there are five mainstream strategies:

Paid (One-Time)

A time-honored and common practice in mobile apps of all varieties is the paid model. Users pay a fixed cost for the app, up-front, regardless of how much usability they get out of it. This strategy is very common in VR gaming apps. This model also allows for a trial period for users to try it out before committing to buying. This style of monetization is great for apps with a lot of brand recognition and high user ratings.

Freemium

The freemium model is a well known strategy for companies that seek to attract users to their services. Under this model, users gain access to some of the app’s basic features, but must pay a fee to access more advanced (and exciting) features.

Subscription

Overlapping with both paid and freemium models, subscriptions provide companies with ongoing transactions. The cost of the subscription is often smaller than the one-time cost of a paid model. However, in order to maintain subscribers, features and app offering may need to be continuously updated.

In-App Advertising

In-app ads have proven to be an effective monetization model. Very simply, developers offer advertisements within the virtual experience and then get paid for it. While this is very common in VR apps, the potential for it is only beginning to be realized. A virtual environment may offer a lot of both overt and subtle advertising opportunities.

In-App Purchases

Today, the in-app purchase model is generating massive amounts of revenue by allowing users to buy both virtual and real-world products from within the app. Products range from virtual tools for use in games to physical articles of clothing. However, when considering this option it’s important to keep in mind that app publishers often must pay a commission on in-app purchases to app-store owners. These commissions can be expensive and difficult to understand.

When deciding which of these models will work best for your VR app, it’s best to focus on the kind of app you want to produce, as well as the audience it is for. It may also be wise to see which model competitors are using as well as staying abreast of the latest monetization trends.

The Costs of VR Application Development

The cost of VR application development is highly variable. In the end, how much development costs is dependent on the kind of content you want for your virtual environment. Applications can be built with simple 360 degree videos, or within fully computer-generated worlds. Ultimately, the scale and complexity of the environment is the biggest driving force behind development costs.

In Conclusion…

With the strides made in technology and the increase in user adoption rates, VR application development is both tempting and profitable. But in order for your company to see that profit, it is important to make sure a proper development strategy is in place. Once you’ve identified the issues you wish to address, you’ll be able to implement a useful solution, and then monetize it.

It’s important to work with experienced developers who can answer any of your questions, successfully navigate implementation with headset integration as well as distribution and monetization strategies, and produce a VR app with an exceptional user experience.

Keep Reading:

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When situations like these crop up, how should you go about choosing a new mobile app development partner?

In this post we’ll explore not only when it’s time for a change, but how to choose the best mobile app development partner for your project.

Why You Might Need to Change Mobile App Development Partners

Let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons why your enterprise may be on the lookout for a new mobile app development partner.

Cost is Too High

One of the most common reasons companies seek to change their app development partner comes down to the cost. The interesting, or perhaps confusing, thing about what an app developer charges, especially per hour, is that it doesn’t always determine the overall cost of the project in the end. The fact is, that although the rates of specialists of the same level can vary wildly from company to company, the productivity and approach to completing the work can be equally different.

Let’s take a look at an example to better illustrate this point.

Imagine you’re looking into two companies as potential partners; Company 1 and Company 2. Imagine that the developer’s hourly rate at Company 1 is $45/hour, and $25/hour at Company 2. Next, imagine that a fair amount of the work—like consultation, gathering project requirements, maintenance, user support, etc—must be done onsite at your offices. Onsite experts at Company 1 charge an hourly rate of $75/hour, while Company 2 charges $130. What’s more, Company 2 likes to spend more time onsite than Company 1 does. In this situation, when all is said and done, Company 2 may end up being the more expensive partner.

Remember, higher rates don’t necessarily mean higher project costs. Other factors, like expertise, play an important role and should be considered.

Current Partner Fails to Meet Budgets or Deadlines

Staying within budget is, obviously, critical for any business. Having deliverable completed on time is equally important, especially when releases are tied to business events. If your mobile app development partner is failing on either of these points—or worse, both—it could become an actual threat to your success.

Work Quality is Unsatisfactory

When a product or deliverable doesn’t work as designed, that’s a problem, but these sorts of things happen from time to time. When it becomes a pattern and happens systematically, it’s time to find a new development partner.

Insufficient Skills or Competence

Business requirements have a habit of changing. That often means that your existing solutions should adapt along with those changes. Sometimes those adaptations require new technological tools or techniques to meet the need. When those changes move the project outside the scope and abilities of your partner, it’s time to reevaluate your relationship.

Vanishing Partner

The most unwanted, and hopefully unlikely, scenario is that your app development partner may simply stop replying to you.

How to Find the Right Mobile App Development Partner

In today’s increasingly digital-first world, the number of mobile app developers has skyrocketed. Choosing the right partner can be a difficult task for even the most experienced business leader. Finding the best app development partner involves a lot of research and analysis. It isn’t simply a question of one company being better than the rest; rather, it comes down to which company most perfectly fits your unique business needs.

Before you wade into searching for that perfect partner there are a few things you should keep in mind:

• The type of mobile apps you want to create.
• Your key business goals and requirements for app development services.
• The features you have in mind for your digital solutions.
• The kind of software development technology you might need for your solution.
• A rough idea of your project budget.
• And other unique requirements your partner may need, such as familiarity with a certain niche or vertical.

When you already know what you want your app to do and what you expect from your mobile app development partner, finding the right company becomes much easier.

Let’s dive into how you now go about choosing the right partner.

Research

It all starts off with exhaustive research. A good starting point is to check out some of the highest reviewed mobile app developers. But as you look over these companies, it’s important to remember that:

• You don’t have to pick someone geographically close to your company. Today, the entire process can be completed remotely. Partners can now work from different countries—even half a world away—and still plan and manage projects effectively.
• Make sure you browse each potential partner’s case studies. Perhaps there are some that have done work similar in scope to your project. This can help you speed up the process, as the most important thing for you to verify is that the company has the experience you need.
• Don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. If your last partner was disappointing, make sure the next one won’t be. Reaching out to various companies is a great idea, and is in no way binding. If you don’t like the things you hear in an initial conversation it’s okay to move on to another option.

Similar Strategic Vision

One of the main characteristics to look for in a new mobile app partner is their strategic vision. The best app development company for you should act as a sort of extension of your own company, at least so far as the relationship is concerned with business objectives. In other words, not only should they be able to help guide you through the process of developing a mobile app, but they should also be able to provide insights based on their experience with similar apps and their understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Finding a reliable business partner is somewhat like finding a romantic partner that sees things the same as you and is willing to move in the same direction. If you and your partner look at the app development process differently, this will almost inevitably lead to issues and potentially conflicts later on.

It’s much better to make sure you’re on the same page and moving in the same direction before you begin a new project.

The Right Skill Set

Developing a mobile app is very specific work, and it requires skilled developers with knowledge of each necessary programming language, software development kits (SDKs), and the ability to work with the advantages of various mobile devices (like Apple and Android). Your mobile app development partner should understand your project and its overall goal.

Perhaps the best way to evaluate a potential partner’s expertise is to look into their portfolio from across various platforms. Check out the previous apps they’ve developed. Some of the most important criteria to consider may include app interfaces, ease of use, and reviews of apps they’ve created in app stores. The best development companies have a deep understanding of each platform’s guidelines to ensure they deliver the best digital product to meet your business objectives.

Cost

Pricing is, of course, one of the more important factors when selecting a new app development partner. However, as is often the case, the least expensive usually isn’t the best option. You’ll need to keep the bigger p[icture in mind as you go through the selection process. Never choose a partner based solely on their rate. Instead, study the approach they used to arrive at their overall pricing.

The most effective way of determining this is to review some of their proposals with a detailed breakdown of their work. From here, you can easily compare project plans and time estimates. Pay special attention to the number of hours and resources each potential partner proposes, and compare that to their total cost. Payments made in line with delivery milestones helps to make sure you and the development team are well aligned, and moving to deliver the project on time and within budget.

Best Practices

One of the major threats to any project is a gap in the understanding of the requirements. To fight against this, mobile app development companies need to follow best industry practices when it comes to communication, execution, documentation, budgeting, quality assurance, security, and more.

Project management techniques vary wildly between companies, but to ensure a successful relationship it’s critical that they follow a process that is consistent, organized, and underpins quality control. This is especially true if you choose a partner far from your geographic location. In these instances, communication is paramount for coordinating a smooth and timely project.

The Bottom Line

A strong relationship with your mobile app development partner is essential for success in today’s increasingly digital-first world. And finding that right partner is a relentless search, filled with pitfalls and compromise.

Let’s recap:

• Start out expecting to do extensive research into each prospective partner’s work history.
• Look for a company that shares your strategic vision.
• Find a team with the right skill set for what you hope to accomplish.
• Make sure the price is right, but don’t let it be the deciding factor.
• Get a sense of each potential partner’s use of best practices in regard to communication, execution, documentation, and more.

The good news is, when you find the perfect partner that shares your strategic vision and has the right set of skills, the results can be explosive!

Now that you know how to go about finding the right team, you’ll be collaborating with the perfect partner for your next mobile app development project in no time.

Quality mobile apps begin with pinpointing a very particular user need the product aims to address. Proper planning clarifies that need and guides the development team towards building a successful mobile app. Preparing a product requirements document (PRD) will help the team avoid common product strategy mistakes and is arguably the best starting point for a mobile project. 

Here is a list of six common mobile app planning mistakes and actionable tips to avoid them. 

6 Common Product Strategy Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

1. Taking too long To get started

Many mobile app projects take too long to get started. The fast rate of disruption can leave companies scrambling. Building future-oriented product roadmaps and continuing to deliver existing business value is a tricky balancing act, and in many cases, companies are unable to adapt fast enough. Additionally, technological change is notoriously difficult to predict, making it hard to convince stakeholders to invest in development projects aimed at addressing future scenarios. 

The longer you sit with your idea, the more difficult it becomes to fully define a functional and feasible framework for development and make a compelling business case. With that said, the solution is not to prematurely jump into mobile app development before the product has been adequately defined. This can be detrimental to your product’s overall success. 

How to avoid it

One of the hardest parts of the development process is getting started. To avoid a prolonged mobile app development and launch process, it’s best to put all your high-level information, research, and specifications in one document by creating a PRD. With a PRD as your project foundation, you will be able to communicate technical feasibility, implementation plans, as well as risk and change management strategies to all team members and stakeholders. Proper mobile app planning has many benefits and speeds up the process significantly by giving the product vision enough shape to start prioritizing a feature set. 

Additionally, it is essential to take an iterative, agile approach and focus on rapid prototyping. As product requirements become clearer, concentrate your efforts on releasing a minimum viable product (MVP), and building and iterating off your learnings. This is an effective way to ensure your project doesn’t get stuck in development.

2. Confusing customer & product requirements

In the early stages of planning product requirements, the overall product vision tends to be unclear. It’s challenging to determine what features and functionality are necessary to deliver user value. Similarly, it’s not always easy to see the full range of technical opportunities. It’s up to the product team to guide the customer through product requirements planning to discover the best possible development solution.

A proper product definition stage involves translating customer requests into concrete product specifications, which can be understood by engineering. It is the role of product management to understand the target market and its needs deeply and to combine what is possible with what is good and create products that solve real problems. 

A PRD document serves to translate your requests into indisputable product specifications. Initial ideas tend to be imprecise and non-technical, and communicating with your product team is critical. Without proper communication, you may not be able to identify the various implications of features on product performance.

How to avoid it

Weigh the requirements for building a good product against your product assumptions. It’s important to think critically about user assumptions, technical assumptions, and business assumptions. Your team should understand the market, emerging trends and technologies, and possibilities for the product to define the requirements for a successful outcome.

3. Crafting requirements in a vacuum

Products are often complex, incorporating multiple systems, subsystems, and functionality; naturally, their requirements are complex as well. The trap some organizations fall into is a result of a lack of diversity within the team. Product teams should be composed of multiple people with different areas of expertise: product owners, product managers, developers, engineers, architects, and UX/UI designers, to name a few. This ensures that different perspectives and opinions are brought to light, enabling a project to be well-thought-out.

How to avoid it

Get your team – product owners and product managers, designers, developers, etc. – involved in product strategy and conceptualization. Agile methodology champions an integrated approach, meaning different members of your project team cooperate throughout product development; this includes product definition.

4. Mistaking Innovation For Value

The rush to incorporate innovation can cause development costs to explode. Just because you can include particular features or functionality, doesn’t mean you should. Emerging technologies and capabilities can sometimes create panic and cause the implementation of new requirements thoughtlessly. Again, this scenario stresses the importance of proper mobile app planning; a PRD allows for fewer mistakes between development handoffs and serves as a reference to determine the necessity of feature alteration. 

How to avoid it

Remain focused on your product goals and remember that you are designing a product for a specific user base. Does this feature or functionality add undeniable value to the end-user? Is it essential to the product? Do the benefits outweigh the cost/complexity of implementation? If the answer to these questions is no, you should exclude the feature or add it to the product roadmap for later execution.

5. Ignoring competitive threats

Market viability is foundational to every product, and competitive threats will inevitably throw a wrench into your development plans. Not only do you need to monitor your competition, but you also need to keep your eye out for emerging trends and technologies. 

 Sometimes, your competitors will release products that rival your own with features too similar for comfort. In these situations, your team may have to pivot. Again, a PRD will be indispensable for these moments because you will have already brainstormed and documented alternative solutions to particular features that fit within the scope and budget of your project. 

How to avoid it

Industry and competitor research is a mandatory part of your product strategy.  

• What is your competition offering? 
• How will your product be different? 
• What needs and problems does your product solve that other products can’t?
• Have you considered industry trends and competitive developments that could or will threaten the success of your product? 

Failing to address these questions can reduce your ability to bring a viable, useful mobile app to the market. It’s necessary to understand your competition’s strengths and weaknesses to set your product apart. With competitive research, you can define your product’s unique value proposition and optimize user lifetime value over time.

6. Failing to prioritize must-haves vs. nice-to-haves

You are not going to be able to implement every feature in the first version of your product. It’s essential to determine what core feature is best suited to solve your users’ central pain point and take that solution to market first. Without clear communication, it’s challenging to determine which features are must-haves and which features are nice-to-haves. 

How to avoid it

Have a classification system for prioritizing features. Coordinate with your project team to determine which features are critical to include versus features your product can do without initially. 

Final Takeaways 

While thorough product requirements planning will not automatically result in market success, it does offer your mobile app a better chance. By avoiding the product strategy mistakes above, you can provide your team with the foundation to successfully break into the market. Remember, successful mobile products begin by addressing a specific user need. A mobile app requirements document is an essential tool in helping you get a clear understanding of what that need is and how your product can address it.