App reskinning has had a lot of bad press lately. It had been branded as a way to spam the App store and fill the pockets of developers without contributing anything to the app industry. But as with anything else, there’s more to app reskinning than all its negative aspects. Let’s closely examine the various advantages and disadvantages of app reskinning.
Advantages of App Reskinning :
Reskinning lowers app development cost
Custom-made apps range from around $37,000 – $500,000 depending on the complexity of the app and the type of app development company employed. According to a mobile app development survey conducted by Clutch, app development can cost $100-$150 per hour for a minimum of 252.75 hours and a maximum of 4,850 hours. Isn’t that neat? You’re going to spend that much for no more than seven months? That’s quite an investment!
The survey also revealed that the highest cost lies on four components of the app:
- The number of platforms that can be supported.
- Features, complexity and factors involving new technology upgrades
- Backend infrastructure and API integration
- Customized design
Source codes for app reskinning start at $10 to $1000 depending on the complexity and quality of mostly the graphics. The maximum length of development will be 3 months (but some reskins may even take as long as developing an app from scratch). Factors that affect the reskin’s final cost are as follows:
- Graphics needed in the app. Reskins that have more levels, has support for more devices and uses more animation needs a large amount of graphic images.
- Sound and music.
- Configuring monetization setup.
- How much of the work is outsourced.
Reskinning also removes the hassle that is brought on by starting everything from scratch. You don’t only save money but also time and resources.
It can maximize your profit per app
The reason why developers are now getting into app reskinning is the prospect of large profits. You can virtually earn 500 times the amount you paid for the source code. The risk is also lessened since the investment is very minimal.
Reskinning is a good mobile app business model
Most people see app reskinning as a quick-fix path to monetization; what they don’t realize is that reskinned apps can actually be used to produce corporate solutions that would help companies save a lot of money while you’re earning more than is expected of a reskin. There are lots of apps that offer solutions to many problems like the app OpenTable. It is one of the top online restaurant-reservation services. It had been in operation since 1998 but to keep up with technological innovations, the company launched a mobile app. The market had been tested, OpenTable reserves about 30,000 seats a month in the USA alone so there is a big market for this service. You can build on this existing model, even starting from scratch with a basic application and then reskinning it to tailor-fit your client’s needs. Businesses would be more inclined to embrace a solution that will make them see definite profit at little to no risk as soon as possible.
Reskinning gives small “appreneurs” a headstart in the mobile app market
Before, the app market was viewed as something dominated by game developers with their “geeky” coding skills and a team of other specialists working for a gaming company. But with the rise of app reskinning, it could be free for all. There is little to no coding skills required and the rest can be easily outsourced. The business side of the app market can easily be understood with someone who has a relative experience with internet marketing. It’s not easy to become big, but not impossible either. That’s why, even with the high saturation of apps in the App store and Google Play Store, mobile app marketing is still a profitable venture, creating in its wake, a way for small-time “appreneurs” and their reskins to rise to the top.
Mobile game apps are perfect reskin materials
Games still lead the pack with 21.8% of the total app download in the Apple App store (June 2015). Business apps follow in far second place with 10.33%. This data alone is proof that there is a big marketing opportunity for this category. So it won’t be a surprise that majority of reskins are game apps. Reskinners can have a head start with mainstream game developers because of the amount of time and resources needed to custom build a game that would have just 100 hours of gameplay. With reskins, you just have to change the design template to target a different demographic or ride in the seasonal and trending tides. Concepts used in productivity apps can only be reused a few times before the audience outgrow the want and need to use them while games have proven concepts and structures that had been reused for many years and still works. A shooting game will still sell years from now but a web clipper app may be outdated by then.
Now, let’s move to the next part of the article :
Disadvantages of App Reskinning :
Apple can detect reskins
“This is a reskinned game.” You might encounter this rejection message after days (and weeks) of waiting for your app to be approved in the App store. Tim Buchalka himself, of reskinninggames.com encountered this dreaded message after he submitted a slot machine game app last year. Though there weren’t any more reports of Apple discriminating against reskins, an app being a reskin is almost like a red flag that would give Apple the discretion to reject it just like that but still, there are many obvious “app factory” apps that still get through – in bulk. Why is that so?
Authority accounts get more leverage
“That app is crappier than my app but it was approved and it is even ranking!” Well, that’s what you could face if you’re just a newbie in the app business. If your account has a good-size app portfolio with adequate reviews and five star rankings, your apps have more chances of rising to the top compared to an account with only one or a couple of apps in the portfolio. This is just the same with the Domain Authority in SEO. Your page has a higher chance of being top ranked in the SERPs if your Domain Authority is high or you’ve been there for quite a while (site age together with other factors). Even though SEO favors Page Authority more (the ranking strength of a domain’s individual page), this is not the same with the App store.
Making the downloaders stay is a challenge
According to a Google survey, 2 in 3 smartphone users will most likely use downloaded apps if they are useful in their everyday life. But 38% of those surveyed abandon these apps almost immediately after they’re done using it for a transaction (e.g. purchasing something). In another survey done in 2011, 20% of those surveyed said that they would delete apps if a similar – better app comes along in the app store. This is the dilemma that most reskins face especially those that are monetized through ads and in-app purchases. The deal with a reskin is that if you are able to clock the original game, you can do so easily with the reskinned version since they are the same deep down. Though it is said that with the number of apps floating around in the app stores, it is rare for a downloader to chance upon the reskinned version of a game he/she had played, the mechanics would definitely be quite familiar. So unless you improve the quality and add features for better user experience, your reskinned app will be nothing but another disposable item.
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