Mobile Phone App Development

Need something a little more involved?

The explosion of smart phones, tablets and mobile internet has left many businesses scrambling to catch up.  It wasn’t that long ago that the PC was the brand new frontier of commerce but now 70% of all internet usage comes from mobiles and tablets.

Many clients know that they need to capitalize on this but have no idea how to get started.

The first step is to decide what kind of mobile presence you want.  Do you need a mobile website or a fully featured phone app?

Responsive Website

Many clients come to us wanting a phone app.  Often, what they are really talking about is a responsive web site.  If your idea is basically your website or shopping cart on a phone then what you’re really looking for is a mobile website.

Every business should, at the very least have a mobile optimised or responsive web site.  A responsive web site is one which resizes to fit the dimensions of the device it’s displayed on.  Many modern intenet users  may never touch a PC or laptop.  If these users want to find something they’ll search on their phone or tablet.  If your site is not optimised for these devices then the chances are it’ll be unreadable and therefore lose you sales.  On the other hand, if your site displays well on these devices then you can tap into a market that others have either ignored or haven’t been able to address yet.

Hyperactive Designs can easily and effectively convert any web site into a fully responsive design, meaning that it will display perfectly on any device or screen size.

Phone Apps

If your idea really does require a fully featured phone app then we have two solutions for you.

Native Phone App

A native phone app is written exclusively for one platform and uses the individual phone platform’s SDK (Software Development Kit) to implement the design.  Native phone apps are very fast and efficient as they are using the inbuilt phone platform. They also have access to features of a phone that a web app do not. Features such as the contacts list, accelerometer, camera and other features of the phone.  These features are provided by the SDK and can be seamlessly integrated into the phone app.

If you’re looking for the next Instagram or Snapchat then native code is the only way to go.

Despite the power of a native app there is a downside.  Native Phone apps take longer to develop as they cannot easily be updated there needs to be a much longer alpha a beta stage.  With a mobile web site, if there is a bug it is easy to change the code on the server and it is immediately reflected on the app.  With a native app, the code has to be rewritten and recompiled.  It then has to be packaged into an update and made available to the public.  Even then you can’t be sure that your users will update there device on a regular basis.  For this reason it is much harder to implement big feature changes or fixes.

Further, each phone platform has it’s own SDK so to publish on all the major phones you need, at minimum, three sets of code.  One for iPhone, one for Android and one for Windows Phones.  Maintaining three code bases can be complex and expensive.

Phone Gap

If you want the power of a native app with access to the platform SDK but don’t want the expense of writing native code then there is a solution.  Platforms such as Phone Gap allow you to write native phone applications based on a web app.  These web apps have access to the platform SDK and can use all the features of a native application.   There are many advantages to using a Phone Gap application. As one code base can be used across any phone platform then only one code base need be maintained.  The same code can be deployed to iPhone, Android or Windows Phone.  Maintenance is a breeze, change the web app underneath and updates are immediately reflected on the users device.

The only downside is that because they run as a web app they are slower and less responsive that a native application. This is because the pages of the app are served from a web server rather than the phone itself.Build your Phone App TodayWhich ever way you decide to go, Hyperactive Designs can deliver your phone app for you.  Call us any time for expert advise on which option you should choose.  It can be a difficult decision and our experienced staff can sit you down and take you through each of the options and help you make the right choice.