Our clients often ask if we can build them native Android and iPhone apps at the same time for their MVP (Minimum Viable Product). While every situation is unique, if the client is launching a new product or service the answer is usually the same: we’d rather not.
Good products are viable on a single platform. It’s not the product that works in more places that wins. It’s the product that is beautiful, functional, bulletproof, and will resonate with users that wins.
Being in both the App Store and the Google Play Store is great, but simply being there isn’t the right goal. Making a winning product is, and in our experience, the chances of success increase if we have more time to iterate and respond to feedback. Time spent supporting multiple platforms can’t be recovered, and we may need that time to make changes based on user feedback or new opportunities that arise.
While supporting multiple platforms does increase distribution, distribution is rarely a problem that winning apps have — see single-platform (at least at first) apps like Instagram, Mailbox and MightyText. Spend your time ensuring that you’re building a product or service that people want before you worry about distributing it.
—Nick Kishfy(@kishfy)