iphone app development agencies guide

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iPhone App Development Agencies Guide The app development playing field is huge and crowded, so who do you trust, exactly? The first in a series, this guide will focus on the top 10 companies working on the iOS platform. 2015 Edition

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Page 1: iPhone App Development Agencies Guide

App Marketing Networks 2014

iPhone App Development Agencies Guide

The app development playing field is huge and crowded, so who do you trust, exactly? The first in a series, this guide will focus on the top 10 companies working on the iOS platform.

2015 Edition

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iPhone App Development Agencies Guide

The app development playing field is huge and crowded, filled with professional players and less-professional amateurs hiding behind a fancy-looking website. Who do you trust? Even if you can trust a company or app developer, that’s not to say their skills match your require-ments perfectly: many developers code for both Android and iOS, but that’s not always the case. Some developers are geared towards specific apps and functionalities, and budget may be a constraint if the company targets a specific size of enterprise and business.

The first in a series, this guide will further expand this list we’ve published before of the world’s best mobile app developers. We’ll talk about the top 10 companies for iOS develop-ment, with a description of their strong points and data we believe you should know when considering which company to work with.

In regards to the data, we have looked up the companies on clutch.co, crunchbase.com and Linkedin. The data points we’ve decided to focus on are the following:

• Main Activity: The main avenues of activity of the company, such as straight-up coding, UX/UI design, branding and others.

• Industry Focus: Previous experience with companies and the sectors in which they oper-ate.

• Level of Business Focus: The size of the companies they usually deal with

• Company Size: So you know how many people you’ll be dealing with.

• Key Clients: self-explanatory.

• Avg. Hourly Rate: self-explanatory

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If you’ve already figured out you want to make an iOS-native application, we believe the following list will help you narrow down which of the top 10 iOS app developers you should work with for your project.

Hedgehog Lab

Hedgehog Lab don’t waste any words in describing what they do, as their portfolio speaks for itself. They created the hugely popular Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals app and the Financial Times’ Top 1000 Banks Project. They’re a relatively small company (46 employes) punching well above their weight.

Based in Newcastle and with offices in London, Boston (US) and Hyderabad, India, and founded in 2007, they describe themselves as a “post-PC technology company”. It’s a testa-ment to their down-to-earth attitude that, despite working with huge corporations, 50% of their work has been with small businesses.

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (60%), enteprise software development (20%)

• Industry Focus: NA

• Founded: 2007

• Level of Business: Small Business (50%), Midmarket (30%)

• Company Size: 11-50 employees

• Key Clients: Jamie Oliver, FT, News International, Channel 4, East Coast Trains

• Avg. Hourly Rate: $100 – $149

Appstudioz

Appstudioz, an Affle company, boasts over 1400 succesfully delivered mobile apps in over 25 countries. Its portfolio ranges from enteprise apps online shopping communities, ente-prise apps, navigation, healthcare and games. They’ve won a series of awards as best app designers, especially in their native India.

Featured in Bloomberg, Inc. and MyMobile, they have sales offices in India, the US, UK, Bra-zil, Australia and Qatar for a truly global approach.

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (50%), Application UI/UX (35%)

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• Industry Focus: Consumer products and services (15%), Media (10%), Arts, entertainment and music (10%)

• Founded: 2011

• Level of Business: Midmarket (40%), Enterprise (35%)

• Company Size: 201-500 employees

• Key Clients: Samsung, Mahindra Comviva, HCL, Adidas, Reebok

• Avg. Hourly Rate: $25 – $49

A screenshot of Appstudioz navigation apps portfolio

source: appstudioz.com

Sourcebits

Sourcebits offers Design, strategy, development, marketing, analytics and lifecycle, making it a one-size fits all company. This shows in its rather large company size, but the majority of its business is done with small-businesses and mid-market enteprises. It also holds offices in the US, London, Bangalore and Greece, giving it a truely global scope.

Sourcebits calls itself “battle-tested” and with good reason, having been founded in 2006 and having accrued 150+ employees, including UX/UI designers, developers and specialists in cloud computing, marketing and industry experts.

• Main Activity: Mobile App (33%), App UI/UX (33%)

• Industry Focus: Retail, IT, Government, Consumer Products, Business Services (10%)

• Level of Business: Small Business and mid-market (40%)

• Founded: 2006

• Company Size: 150+

• Key Clients: Bank of America, Disney, GE, Intel, MIT, IBM, P&G, Hershey’s, Coca-Cola

• Avg. hourly rate: $100 – $149

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WillowTree

Willowtree‘s range of services is wide, including development, design and strategy, though app development accounts for up to 50% of its total work. In its website it also states that it keeps a library of pre-coded modules in order to offer a quick turnaround to apps with simi-lar features to those they’ve coded before.

Willowtree’s list of awards is long and distinguished: Finalists of the Appy Awards in 2015 for the Mobile Applications: Music category, they were ranked n. 454 in Inc’s 5000 List are two among many of their accolades, and their BabyCenter Birth Class App was featured in the launch of the iPad 2.

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (50%), App UI/UX (20%)

• Industry Focus: Media (20%), Field Solutions (20%), Retail (15%), Arts & Entertainment (15%)

• Level of Business: Enterprise (70%)

• Founded: 2007

• Company Size: 51-200 employees

• Key Clients: Game Show Network, BabyCenter, GE, Valpak, Crutchfield Electronics, De-partment of Defense

• Avg. hourly rate: $100 – $149

Screenshot of the app developed for AoL

Source: willowtreeapps.com

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Y Media Labs

Y Media Labs are developers at heart, their main service line is the development of mobile applications, but that doesn’t mean they can’t multitask. They offer strategy and branding advice for your application as well as UX and UI design.

It’s portfolio is star-studded, with the “Nom Nom Paleo” app being number one in the Food and Drinks category on the app store. They also deliver a constant stream of insights on the mobile app industry through their webpage, aptly so given their own definition as “innova-tors and storytellers”, Ymedia Labs

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (90%)

• Industry Focus: Business Services (30%), Education (25%)

• Level of Business: Enterprise (60%)

• Founded: 2009

• Company Size: 51-200 employees

• Key Clients: PayPal, Staples, American Express, EMC, Nom Nom Paleo and Credit Karma

• Avg. hourly rate: $100 – $149

Fuzz

Fuzz has strong roots in development, having been founded in 2001, and is one of the big hitters of the list: 50% of its business comes from enteprise-level projects, and it shows in its range of services and key clients list. Fuzz do everything from strategy to creative direction, from marketing and branding to UX design.

Their focus on larger companies shows in their portfolio Within the first two years of incep-tion, they worked with AT&T, MTV and Comedy Central, making them one of the earliest adopters of the iPhone in 2007. Their current tally of native apps is at over 200.

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (40%), Enterprise Software development (15%)

• Industry Focus: Consumer products and services (25%), Retail (20%)

• Level of Business: Enterprise (50%), Midmarket (40%)

• Founded: 2001

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• Company Size: 51-200 employees

• Key Clients: New York Post, L’Oreal Paris, Xbox, Conde Nast

• Avg. Hourly Rate: $150 – $199

Fueled

Fueled has wide-ranging experience in a number of markets such as consumer products, media and advertising, with a particular focus on developing apps for small businesses (50% of its work). With HQs in New York and London, the company concentrates particularly on creating beautiful, functional apps, and offer all related services like UX/UI design and brand-ing, whether “a la carte” if you only need a specific one to a full development package.. Their portfolio covers all sorts of functionalities, from multiplayer trivia game QuizUp to mon-ey-management app Nimble.

• Main Activity: Mobile App development (50%), Application UX/UI (20%)

• Industry Focus: Consumer products and services (25%), Media, Retail, Arts Entertainment & Music, Advertising and Marketing (15%)

• Level of Business: Small Business (50%), Midmarket (35%)

• Founded: 2007

• Company Size: 51-200 employees

• Key Clients: Porsche, Ducati, Discovery Communications

• Avg. Hourly Rate: $150 – $199

IntellectSoft

Intellectsoft is an eclectic company, having developed mobile apps for financial services and business as well as advertising, gaming and healthcare sectors. Based in California, it has offices in London, Oslo and Belarus, they divide their work fairly equally between enterprise level, SMEs and start-ups. On top of app development, they also provide “investor packs” to pitch your idea to investors on rounds of funding.

IntellectSoft currently has offices in the UK, US, Norway, the UAE and Belarus, and has Har-ley Davidson and Guinness, where they connected Guinness customers with the heritage of the drink, among its success stories of app development.

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (40%), Enterprise software development (25%)

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• Industry Focus: Financial Services (20%), Business Services (20%)

• Level of Business: Enterprise (40%), Midmarket (30%), Small Business (30%)

• Founded: 2007

• Company Size: 51-200 employees

• Key Clients: Universal Pictures, Jaguar Motors, Ernst & Young, London Stock Exchange, Harley-Davidson

• Avg. hourly rate: $50 – $99

Success story: the Guinness app by Intellectsoft

Source: Intellectsoft.net

Worry Free Labs

Worry Free Labs has ten years’ experience in delivering digital applications, and is now a PointClear company. Its portfolio is diverse, including projects like apps for dating, crowd-sourcing and productivity. It’s core set of services, as well as UX/UI design, also include strong QA testing and developing a good technical architecture.

Acquired by PointClear in late 2013, their focus now naturally tends to the healthcare in-dustry, though their clients are diverse and their apps range from games to digital insurance platforms. Based in New York, they offer a large team of designers, strategists, coders and developers.

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (45%), Application UI/UX (25%)

• Industry Focus: Health, care & Life Sciences (25%), Education (25%)

• Level of Business: Enterprise (50%), Midmarket (40%)

• Founded: 2005

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• Company Size: 51-200 employees

• Key Clients: Disney, Verizon and BASIS.ed

• Avg. Hourly Rate: $100 – $149

Part of the vast portfolio of Worry Free Labs

Source: worryfreelabs.com

Qburst

Qburst straddles an interesting section of the market. A globlal player with strong experi-ence in big data analytics, it conducts most of its business with Small businesses (40%) and mid-market businesses (40%). It has a good experience with cutting-edge technologies such as beacons and near-field communications, and has an eclectic portfolio, having worked in 19 different sectors ranging from advertising to telecommunications.

Qburst has also won a number of awards, such as Best Mobile App Developers of India in 2014 according to Sourceline and fourth in Best Android Development Company in 2014 according to Best Web Design Agencies.

• Main Activity: Mobile app development (35%), Web Development (20%), BI and Big Data Analytics and Solutions (20%)

• Industry Focus: Health care and life sciences (15%), IT (10%)

• Level of Business: Midmarket and Small Businesses (40%)

• Founded: 2004

• Company Size: 501-1000 employees

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• Key Clients: National Geographic, Burberry, Dell, Peugeot

• Avg. Hourly Rate: $25 – $49

Waracle

Waracle is Scotland-based and tiny when compared to the other big names in this list, but don’t let that fool you. Founded in 2007, it has already worked with Clydesdale Bank, Virgin Atlantic and the Ryder Cup among others. Its set of services is concentrated: Mobile App development and mobile app marketing, and offers a free consultation for your prospective app.

Waracle has been involved in developing apps for enterprise mobility, field service, health-care and events among many others, and they also offer free app-readiness checking, com-paring your pre-existing app against their bets-practice guidelines, and a free white paper on mobile app trends.

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (80%)

• Industry Focus: NA

• Level of Business: NA

• Founded: 2007

• Company Size: 11-50 employees

• Key Clients: Clydesdale Bank, Ryder Cup, Virgin Atlantic, Roche, Imperial College London

• Avg. Hourly Rate: $300+

A selection of Waracle’s major clients

Source: waracle.net

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Digital Brand Group

Digital Brand Group is an all-rounder, with a diverse portfolio covering consumer products, advertising, marketing and life sciences among many other sectors. The company also offers a wide knowledge base in white papers, as well as services in UX and UI design, branding and QA testing.

DBG, which is based in Orange County, California and Kerala, India, was founded in 2006 and is one of the larger ones in this list. Their services are summed up by themselves into four categories: Consulting, Creative, Technology and Mobile, with a new service, New Ventures, which provides business models for start up, entrepreneurs and developers.

• Main Activity: Mobile App Development (45%), web development (25%)

• Industry Focus: Consumer products and services (20%), Advertising and marketing (15%), Health care and life sciences (15%)

• Founded: 2006

• Level of Business: NA

• Company Size: 51-200 employees

• Key Clients: Digi-Tribute, American Honey, Hoonigan, Tamyia, Cobra

• Avg. Hourly Rate: $50 – $99

Screenshot of the Cinepop app by DBG

Source: Digitalbrandgroup.com

As we mentioned above, the field of iPhone app developers is huge, and it can be hard to navigate if you’re just starting out. We hope that our guide of the best iPhone developing agencies has given you some insight into how best to approach the market, and that we’ve selected a wide range of companies, all offering high quality and execution, to cater for every need.