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The quote covers year one, badly
Development is typically 40–60% of the three-year cost. The rest is maintenance, OS version updates that break things you did not touch, store review changes, and the analytics and crash reporting you did not budget.
Cross-platform is not half price
One codebase for iOS and Android saves real money — but you still test on both, still hit platform-specific bugs, and still need someone who understands each store. Budget 60–70% of two native apps, not 50%.
Ask whether you need an app at all
If the answer is 'our customers should reorder easily', a fast mobile web experience does that today, with no store, no install and no review queue. Build an app when you need the camera, offline work, push or a home-screen habit.
The decision framework in one question
Will people open this more than once a week? If not, an app icon will sit unused on a screen and you will have paid for a store presence rather than a product. Be brutal about the answer.
- Development is under half the three-year cost.
- Cross-platform saves ~30–40%, not 50%.
- Weekly usage or no app.
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