Mobile and web app distribution is crucial as it ensures widespread availability and accessibility, reaching a vast user base. It facilitates app discovery, enhances user engagement, and contributes to the app's overall success by making it available on various platforms.
Recently, our CTO Igor Bagayev held an internal townhall, where he presented some vital points on the specifics of mobile apps distribution, with mobile and back-end developers, project managers, QAs, and other teammates related to the topic.
Igor has been in the role of Vilmate's Chief Technology Officer since 2016 and possesses 10+ years experience of involvement in various projects connected with mobile and web app development and distribution. So, following the traces of this event, we'd like to highlight its major clues with the help of our presenter.
Why do you think it's important to keep close contact with the team in different ways, including such townhalls?
Maintaining close contact with a team through diverse channels, including townhalls, fosters a number of positive outcomes. First of all, it ensures everyone is well-informed, consequently leading to a more transparent documentation flow. Secondly, regular sync events of different levels enable real-time updates, promote collective learning, and enhance the overall team skills. This approach adds to a collaborative environment that gives confidence in what everybody's doing. In other words, such events serve as a platform for open dialogue, aligning team members with organizational goals and giving a sense of unity and shared purpose.
Why did you choose this particular topic? Are you expecting this topic to stay relevant in this and upcoming years?
We have plenty of experience in setting up, maintaining, and augmenting projects related to mobile app development. This experience gives us solid ground for sharing and communication. My goal was to demonstrate that distributing apps on thousands of mobile devices via app stores and other intermediaries is different from dealing with web apps. Plus, the choice of mobile app distribution stems from its enduring relevance in the digital landscape. As technology evolves, the importance of mobile devices only grows. The dynamics of app distribution, encompassing diverse platforms and strategies, are of the highest for app developers and businesses seeking a broad user reach.
So, the relevance of the topic is beyond any doubt. And it's not expected to lose positions even in the upcoming decade.
Based on the experience from your position and the company in general, what would you recommend to be aware of before launching and distributing applications?
Well, it's not an easy task to spill everything we touched upon during this townhall. More than 50 people were present, our discussion was quite intense and took more than an hour. But I can try to point out something that could fit most of the projects, which involve app distribution on mobile devices.
- Always keep in mind that web and mobile app distribution is different. While a web app reaches the user directly from the server via a web browser, a mobile app has an important additional layer in between. Users have to download an update with a new codebase explicitly from the Apple AppStore or Google Play Store. It may lead to inconsistent content correlation, versioning, and delays in the update reach. In some cases, for an update to reach the end-user device can take from one week to up to a month.
- Make up your mind on how many release versions of your product or service you require for efficient support. Not everyone has an auto-update turned on in their device settings. And therefore there are always a bunch of users who continue using old versions of your application. The more versions you've got, the more chance there is for inadequacies in the field connectivity, operational functioning, and overall bug alert risks. Not to mention the increased load on the first-line support.
- Take care of a timely and transparent notification system for users in advance. No matter how efficient and automated your digital product is, certain actions from end users are still necessary when dealing with mobile apps. Popup alerts, emails, text messages, or all in tandem - it depends on the situation. But in any case, it's a good idea to let them know that it's in their own interest to update an app, refresh some details, or add another layer of security. Otherwise, if anything goes wrong, you'll be the one to blame for insufficient informing. The client is always right.
We also discussed a lot of technical details about frameworks, templates, delivery mechanisms, and personal know-hows. Time passed in the blink of an eye, and we closed this event in elevated spirits.
Considering the outcome, feedback, and the number of visitors, such a townhall was the first one this year but not the last one. 2024 promises to be no less dynamic than the previous year. There's always space for opening new things, refreshing the learned, and observing the technical world with the profit for yourself and your teams. So, expect more updates in such a format.
As Igor mentioned above, Vilmate has a profound experience in web and mobile development at all their stages. Let us drive innovation, enhance efficiency, and boost your digital presence. Feel free to contact our team in any convenient way to get all the answers to any of your questions.
And stay tuned with Vilmate! The mobile era has just begun.
