App Development Models

The mobile internet “gold mine” is attracting the attention and participation of every industry, but how to give your brand app a dominant position in the fierce blue-ocean commercial war, moving from “following” to “leading”, is the current demand of small and medium enterprises. The point matters because for an enterprise an app is not just a “display application” but a timely app with brand communication power.

According to industry insiders, there are two main app development models: templated apps and custom apps, exactly matching the needs of enterprises in the market. If you describe the structure with a pyramid, they correspond to its bottom and top. Templated development corresponds to the enterprises at the pyramid’s base: the app’s functions and visuals are fixed. Although several template sets are offered, each can only be stacked in sequence; with no combination of functional modules behind, the industry can only differentiate through visuals and UI experience, and real functions are still missing. Template-based apps therefore have almost no value to enterprises. Their features are simple product, fast development and low cost, but the enterprise gains no market competitiveness.

Templated apps, unable to meet requirements and lacking personalisation, have gradually drawn enterprises’ criticism and slid to a subsidiary position. At the opposite pole is developing an app with the deep customisation model. Such products are unique and personalised, fully customised to every aspect of the enterprise. Their disadvantage is equally obvious: development and maintenance costs are very high, with companies paying far more than the templated model, prices differing by dozens of times. Those choosing this model sit at the top of the pyramid, and costs of hundreds of thousands of yuan are hard for many companies to bear.

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