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The last

several

years have

seen an

explosion in

mobile

applications.

By the end

of 2013,

both

Android’s

Google Play

and the

Apple iOS

App Store

will be

hosting a

million apps

(http://readwrite.com/2013/01/08/google-

play-to-hit-1-

million-apps-

before-

apple-app-

store#feed=/author/dan-

rowinski) -

and we have

only seen

minor signs

of slowing

growth.

Where the

heck are all

Share

208

Like 294

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android)

(http://readwrite.com/2013/02/04/ios-6-

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(BaaS)

mobile-

cloud-

platform

vendor

Kinvey

(http://www.kinvey.com/)

set out to

answer just

that

question.

MoreThan 4Months!?

In a survey of

100 native

mobile

developers,

Kinvey

determined

that creating

a fully

functional

and polished

app takes a

team about

18 weeks

from start to

finish. That

includes

both front-

end design

and user

interface as

well as

back-end

integration

like push

notifications,

user

management

and

authentication,

caching and

sharing

through

social

channels.

I know what

many app

developers

are thinking

when they

hear that:

“18 weeks?!

Who the hell

are these

turtle-slow

developers?”

On the other

hand,

enterprise

developers

are probably

saying: “18

weeks?! We

are only

halfway

through by

that point.”

Given the

sheer

volume of

apps

published on

a monthly

basis (the

App Store

averaged

641 new

apps a day

from

September

2012 to

January

2013

(http://readwrite.com/2013/01/07/apple-

app-store-

growing-

by)), taking

4.5 months

for one app

does seem

like a long

development

cycle. But as

many

smartphone

users

already

know, not all

of those

apps

(probably

not the vast

majority of

them) are

any good.

Some apps

are naturally

easier to

make than

others, like

reverse-

engineered

“copycat”

apps or

feature

functions like

Android

wallpaper

apps. For

instance, it

was

rumored that

it took

Facebook

engineers

only a matter

of days to

clone

Snapchat

with its

similar Poke

app

(http://readwrite.com/2012/12/21/test-

driving-

poke-

facebooks-

new-safer-

sexting-app-

for-tweens).

Androidvs. iOS:WhichTakesLonger?

What if you

are

developing

specifically

for iOS or

Android?

Does one

take longer

than

another?

The answer

used to be a

definite Yes,

Android took

longer

because of

the

fragmentation

issues of

developing

an app for a

wide variety

of

smartphones.

That is not

quite as true

as it used to

be though.

Google

spent a

good portion

of 2012

updating

and

streamlining

the Android

Software

Developers

Kit (SDK) to

better

handle

varying

screen

sizes, pixel

densities

and

operating

system

versions.

Many

improvements

came to

Android app

development

processes

with both the

Ice Cream

Sandwich

and Jelly

Bean

releases.

“Assuming

equal skill

level on the

part of the

developer, it

shouldn't

take longer

to build an

app on one

platform or

the other,"

said Joe

Chernov, VP

of marketing

on behalf of

Kinvey’s

engineering

team. "In the

fairly recent

past,

Android took

longer

because of

the

complexity

of multiple

device form

factors.

However

Android's

vastly

improved

developer

tools and

SDK has

removed

that

complexity.

Now a

developer

can use a

designer

tool to

instantly see

what the UI

will look like

on multiple

devices. Yet

while

building the

app might

take the

same

amount of

time on each

platform,

what does

take longer

is the

approval

process. For

Android,

approval

takes hours

(and there's

a self-

service

option that

removes

approval

entirely),

while Apple

can take

weeks.”

The

infographic

below is the

result of

Kinvey’s

developer

survey,

conducted in

partnership

with AYTM

(http://aytm.com/)

(Ask Your

Target

Market). The

infographic

itself was

created by

Visual.ly

(http://visual.ly/).

Developers

were asked

12 questions

on how long

it would take

to perform a

variety of

functions

such as

integrating

server-side

data storage

or design

work.

Respondents

varied from

different

aspects of

Web and

mobile

development,

with 30

identifying

themselves

as mobile

Web (but not

native)

developers,

27 as strictly

native

developers

and 43 as

enterprise-

level

developers.

The 18-

week-

development-

cycle

conclusion

was reached

by adding up

how long

developers

said it would

take to

perform

certain

actions. The

data seems

to show a

standard

deviation of

about two

weeks in

either

direction.

So, how long

will it take

you to

develop

your native

mobile app,

start to

finish?

Really, there

is no easy

answer to

that

question.

Dave

Bisceglia,

founder and

CEO of

Boston-

based iOS

game

development

studio The

Tap Lab

(http://thetaplab.com/)

sums it up

nicely:

“The less

exciting but

entirely true

answer is, ‘It

depends,’ "

Bisceglia

said. “I've

seen very

talented

teams crank

out high-

quality apps

in just a few

weeks.

However,

the demand

for higher

production

quality in

apps has

certainly

risen in

recent years.

Accordingly,

app dev

cycles have

extended

and we're

seeing folks

spend

anywhere

60

TweetTweet 772

from 6 to 12

months on

more

complex

projects.”

(http://www.kinvey.com/blog/2086/how-

long-does-it-

take-to-

build-a-

mobile-app)

Note: Click

the

infographic

to see the

full-size

version.

Top image

courtesy of

Shutterstock

(http://www.shutterstock.com).

Tags: App

Development

(/tag/App+Development/)

Share

208

Like 294

15 comments

Leave a

message.

..

DiscussionDiscussion

##ShareShare

jenni • a

month ago

maybe on a

non-client

app.. It takes

longer when

you have to

deal with

client

approval

0★

@Dan_Rowinski

(http://twitter.com/Dan_Rowinski)

Dan Rowinski+

(http://plus.google.com/104861455140173164919/)

Email

(mailto:dan@readwriteweb.com)

DanRowinski(http://readwrite.com/author/dan-rowinski#_tid=article-author&_tact=click+%3A+A&_tval=1&_tlbl=Position%3A+1)

Dan

Rowinski is

a senior

writer at

ReadWrite.

He lives in

Boston.

•

Reply •

and

changes.

1 △ ▽

•

Reply •

M. Edward

(Ed)

Boras ky • a

month ago

18

weeks?

Twice as

long as a

litter of

kittens!

#caturday

#early

1 △ ▽

•

Reply •

longbeachcom puters ho

• 15 days ago

Nice article!

Most people

are apps

crazy but

nobody

really knows

these kind of

stuffs. It's

nice to know

at least. So

it's longer

than 18

weeks? Lots

of hard

work!

0 △ ▽

Ryan Wi ls on

• a month ago

Thanks for

posting this

type of blog.

such a nice

question

Share ›

Share ›

Share ›

•

Reply •

question

kept ahead

in the public.

Its really

very nice

idea.

Thanks for

sharing this

nice one...

0 △ ▽

•

Reply •

zhengs huang

• a month ago

http://simurl.com/dudmun

.

0 △ ▽

jd rch • a

month ago

Thanks for

writing this. I

once worked

with an

organization

in which

leadership

Share ›

Share ›