Let us ask the following question, what does apple stand for. If one thinks about it a bit, one would quickly realize – Apple basically stands for class. And by class, we not only imply aspects that make its products exclusive such as excellent user experience, flawless performance, and high price, but mainly the fundamental aspects such as quality of product design, attention to detail, and a sense of comfort and reliability arising from it.

Who are the users of Apple’s smartphones, watches, and Macbooks

By merely appreciating an Apple’s mobile device does not give us any insight into who buys Apple products. For instance, according to Statista, Apple smartphone sales captured almost 16% of the total market share of smartphone sales in 2020. Given the severe changes in society brought by the pandemic, noticeably the reduction in buying power of an average person, iPhone sales still recorded the second highest among all smartphone vendors and only behind Samsung. A report from Business Research Methodology tells us that the majority of iPhones are sold to customers between the age of 18 and 45 and they are considered to be the high earners of society. In addition, Apple customers are known for their extremely strong customer loyalty and are hard-core loyalists. This is an important distinction compared to Android users.

Benefits of building iOS product App

There are a few deep implications and major benefits for understanding the customer profile of iPhones and Apple watches deeply for startup founders and product managers entering the mobile app market. 

Access to a large group of customers

If you have your product app built on iOS, it implies that you can instantly reach out to a large number of customers, especially in the high earning groups in the developed world. For this reason, the demand for iPhone app development is really high in advanced countries such as the USA and the UK.

This has deeper consequences for the startup’s strategy for not only the consumer but also for the enterprise set up. If a client team (whether a startup or a bigger enterprise) uses iPhones for its team members, this usually implies that as long as the product builders do a good job in building their apps on the iOS platform they have a chance to position their product within the premium category resulting in higher margins and greater return on investment. 

Utilizing Apple’s brand value

Secure app distribution

One of the most prominent reasons for deciding to develop your app within iOS is that iOS provides access to built-in enhanced security features. Considering that cybercrime costs the tech industry in trillions annually, it is a big deal for startups or product teams that aim to achieve hypergrowth and scale their businesses to hundreds of thousands of users. And, this is where iOS development comes into play as Apple has a reputation for being at the forefront of several critical security features. As a result, if one decides to build their product on the iOS platform, one ensures that their users get substantial protection against external threats.

Single authority to deal with

This has its good and bad sides. On the good side, for the product builders, there is only one party to deal with in case of any issues relating to the iOS product development and its distribution mechanics. This comes in handy when raising issues with the iOS support team and getting quick service and for some, it is a mark of high quality standards. On the one hand, the founders and product builders are entirely dependent on the mercy of Apple and in case Apple disapproves or disagrees with anything related to the product or the product’s interaction with the user.

Access to Apple’s tech infrastructure

Products and businesses can leverage iOS application development services as it allows them to take advantage of the cutting-edge technologies developed or used by Apple in order to build features that could help transform the user experiences. For example, the iOS SDK (Software Development Kit) allows businesses to harness the potential of several software development tools developed by Apple and other iOS developers that not only transform the business workflow but enhance customer experience. As a result, a business app on iOS could mean increased engagement, improved decision-making ability, and increased productivity for its users.

Using iOS application development services enables businesses to build high fidelity advanced applications that seamlessly integrate with the enterprise systems in order to build innovative applications that enable new capabilities and functions that increase growth and margins. 

A few other attractions

Although the iOS app development requires specific skills such as coding in Swift and Kotlin programming languages, it does have its peculiarities, but there are several other advantages of deciding for an iOS product app.

• Ease of testing – Apple has evolved its ecosystem to a high level such that iPhone apps just have to meet the testing criteria of the prevalent iOS versions. This considerably reduces the app’s testing time and in turn guarantees a quick time to market. Furthermore, since Apple users are consolidated within extremely few iOS versions, this results in less fragmentation among the users and the user bases are an attractive target market for any iOS app developer.
• Short development cycle – iOS apps could easily take nearly a third less time than Android apps of similar specifications. Testing turns out to be the main reason for this as mentioned in the previous point, vs the Android apps that need to be tested across many more devices with varying specs. 
• iOS development tools are highly sophisticated – As alluded to before, Apple’s Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for iOS Development is very sophisticated. Mainly because of its easy to use, user-friendly, and stable features. For instance, Xcode (the software to design and develop iOS apps) is much more mature compared to any other platform and it comes bundled with all of the tools a developer would possibly need.
• Access to a vibrant community – Apple has a cult-like following of its developer ecosystem. It consists of diverse people ranging from developers, designers, bloggers, and businessmen hailing from countries like China, India, Italy, UK. 

That’s all good but where is the catch

There is no free lunch in the world, similarly building iOS app development is not free from limitations. Some, we have already alluded to before but it is only fair to at least briefly capture some main limitations or drawbacks.

• Native iOS projects could result in substantially more costs for developers, compared to cross-platform and web applications. This includes the costs of updating and maintenance of the apps.
• MacOS X is a closed source software, this implies the developer freedom is not restricted but is also subject to change on Apple’s call.
• The Apple app authorization process is long and laborious. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that your app will be accepted and added to the App Store database even if it meets all the requirements.
• For app purchases, 30 % of the app’s sales through Apple’s App Store goes to Apple and this could result in a significant price increase for the user.

Summary

The choice of a founder or a product manager to go for an iOS app is not an optional one these days, especially if one is aiming to scale the business to a large population or users. In fact, for premium services, it is considered as the default launch platform. In addition, we at Makeen believe that with the right development team the iOS product app is an effective way to access a strong user base that is willing to try out innovative new products and is ready to pay for value.

In the end, if you’re expanding a business or building a startup, the choice of iOS vs Android mobile app development should be resolved by the various considerations including the target audience, the budget, and the focus of the app. Our iOS experts at Makeen have helped several startups and businesses to cost-effectively launch their businesses’ on iOS into the market in record time.