Planning on a basic budget:
When planning for a budget it is split up into different key areas; the direct costs, indirect costs, marketing, and contingency plans. The direct costs include; the hardware, software, materials, and travel. If the app that you are planning on creating is a one off, then the hard ware used could be rented. For my concept, I would have it on one platform to begin with, which would be an app, as it will first measure how it is working with the users, then I would develop it further if there was a demand for it, to add another platform, where data from the user is sent to their therapist or/and parents, so they can keep track of when they are feeling certain things that is worrying.
When planning out the cost of an app, it depends if it is a simple, data list, complex or an enterprise. The more complex the more expensive it will to develop the app, as the technology will increase. My app would be a complex, as it will need to have a bank of endless images to go with any visual idea the user has.
(What do these images show)
Also, when planning the budget, there must be consideration for the platform, I wish to sell my product. In my case, it would be through an app store, most likely Apple. Apple charge $99 to sell an app a year. Apple take 30% of the money from the price that is charged.
When choosing to price the app, will make it difficult as, I would want to make it accessible to as many people as I could. As a result, would mean that I would class this as a tier one, costing £0.79, which means I would only receive £0.55 from each app sold. On average the cost of the project is £40k, for the type of app I am aiming to design.
The rough pricing for developing an app:
Direct costs:
Hardware
-Mac/Computer ~ £1,049 (each)
-Iphone/ipad ~ £599
Software
-Adobe creative cloud ~ £45.73 a month including VAT
-Coding software such as iTunes connect ~ £81 a year
Indirect:
The Team:
- Project Manager
- Business Analyst
- 2-4 developers
- UX/UI designer
- Coder
- Backend Developer
- Admin
- Panel Designer
Their wages will all be based on their experience, but normally it will be based around £16k-£25k a year. Realistically the project should take around 10-12 weeks.
Other potential costs to consider:
- API integration
- Custom design components
- Application Developer
- Heavy tech components
- Admin panel development
- Marketing and promotion – normally companies spend around 5% of their total revenue on marketing
- Support & updates
- Frontend and Backend maintenance/BaaS subscription
- Cloud hosting
I did a test that asked me questions about the functionality of the app, then it calculated how much it would cost to actually make it with the best equipment and team.
Another element which is very important to consider, is a contingency plan. I thought of some possible scenarios that could happen within the production of the project and what the solution could be.
- A computer could break, or progress has been lost/deleted. If the computer breaks we could invest in another type of hardware that would be slightly cheaper, but still able to perform as well. Computers could be swapped around for when they are needed within the team to avoid buying anything more. Or if it is half way through the development then we could just rent the hardware. However, if the work has been lost/deleted, to begin with the work must be backed up onto the cloud or other hard drives, to avoid this ever happening.
- Development of the app could take longer than expected, this becomes a problem as it means that wage will have to increase, due to extra time, and any subscriptions for any software that we are using. As a result, when planning the budget it means that there must always be money put aside if this situation happens, as the manager will be able to still pay for the team to develop it.
Bibliography:
Hardware:
https://andybargh.com/hardware-needed-to-develop-ios-apps/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223177
http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/buy-iphone/iphone-7
Software
https://developer.android.com/training/building-graphics.html
https://developer.apple.com/develop/
https://developer.apple.com/xcode/
https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/graphics/app-icon/
price for apps
https://www.macstories.net/stories/a-beginners-guide-to-app-store-pricing-tiers/