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Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

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Re: Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

#71

Post by gte910h »

frankus wrote: post #28
dotBen wrote: post #4

Too many variables to be able to suggest a total rate (depends on how much work there is, in addition to the other factors listed). You are probably looking at the equivalent of $100-200/hr for good development, with the higher end for people located in SF. If you are going to out-source development, and you have a design/product background, I would build out a product spec and even a draft list of stories into Pivot…

Damn, I guess I need to move to San Francisco. I don't have heaps of experience (a few apps in the store) but folks out here have balked at the $50-60/hour I've been charging.

2 tips: Learn to do fixed fee. Learn to do fixed fee and not get screwed.

Re: Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

#72

Post by mattgratt »

gte910h wrote: post #69
faramarz wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The native functionality is tied into the form factor. thats the biggest advantage to having a native app. In an ideal situation, i'll be giving out the iPad free, shipped with my App. already installed. the value proposition can be so huge that would offset the device cost. Something like this would fit our slogan iPad was made for our X , all the other goodies are just extra :P

According to apple, that's a NO NO. As in, there was an implied threat of pulling the dev account of someone who did that when I asked for a discount on iPodTouches. The enterprise solution is only for internal. The only other distribution channel is the App store. You're not allowed to distribute an app any other way. Sure, you can give them the iPad, but Apple's lawyers will be on your back the second they found ou…

You could probably do your thing with ad-hoc distribution on the first 100 iPads. (Actually I think that probably violates the agreement. Don't do that.)

For the iPad in particular, there has to be a way for such apps to get on, or you're never going to see anything resembling enterprise adoption, so i'd expect this to change.

For the good of the discussion, you can only get an iPhone enterprise developer certificate if you have 500+ people in your company and a Dunn & Bradstreet number. Then getting a certificate is fairly easy. This allows you to, as others have said, distribute iPhone apps over a tether.

Yesterday in iPhone 4.0, Apple announced they were now enabling over-the-air install of in-house apps. My current understanding is that this relates to opening specific APIs relating to OTA apps. (full disclosure: I work for a company called Ondeego that delivers in-house iPhone app distribution as a service.)

Re: Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

#73

Post by davidcann »

clavalle wrote: post #68
davidcann wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone reading this, please don't think the ~150 an hour range is normal for an individual developer. This is generally the rate for a full service design/development agency where you get an account manager, secretaries, etc. I do iPhone development and haven't met anyone getting even close to $150/hr individually. If someone made that, they'd be be making $6,000/week and $300,000/year. yish, can you confirm that t…

I charge $150/hr and I am a single developer in Austin so it is just not the high-rate of living areas.

Sincere contrats to those of you who are consistently getting this rate.

Re: Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

#74

Post by davidedicillo »

koevet wrote: post #54

A couple of months ago I had an idea for an iPhone app that requires a client and server component. I decided to focus on the backend development and outsource the front-end. I have posted my tender on http://www.getappsdone.com/ and in a very short amount of time I have received several offers from shops and individuals from all over the planet, mainly US, UK and India. I have replied to every contact asking for a p…

I'm glad to see YC people using it. We are really trying to focus on a fair marketplace more than a race-to-the-bottom one (like elance and others).

Re: Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

#75

Post by semanticist »

rickharrison wrote: post #24
auston wrote: post #23

Might I recommend that you make it a web app? All of the facilities you have listed are available in Safari (client side storage, location data).

That is an option, but much more difficult if he is planning on selling his app.

Once it's developed and working, PhoneGap can turn it into a native app that can be sold on the App Store.

Also has the benefit that it can be potentially made cross-platform, so you're not as tied into just the iPhone.

Re: Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

#76

Post by gte910h »

mattgratt wrote: post #72
gte910h wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to apple, that's a NO NO. As in, there was an implied threat of pulling the dev account of someone who did that when I asked for a discount on iPodTouches. The enterprise solution is only for internal. The only other distribution channel is the App store. You're not allowed to distribute an app any other way. Sure, you can give them the iPad, but Apple's lawyers will be on your back the second they found ou…

You could probably do your thing with ad-hoc distribution on the first 100 iPads. (Actually I think that probably violates the agreement. Don't do that.) For the iPad in particular, there has to be a way for such apps to get on, or you're never going to see anything resembling enterprise adoption, so i'd expect this to change. For the good of the discussion, you can only get an iPhone enterprise developer certificate…

1> This violates the agreement

2> The installs expire after 3 months (adhoc that is)

3> I think this model isn't going to get around apple. They're famous for defeating workarounds.

Re: Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

#77

Post by hboon »

gte910h wrote: post #67
hboon wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's an enterprise solution, it doesn't have necessary have to go through App store, no?

If you have an internal app that's only used by people who work for you , you can use the enterprise deployment kit to deploy internally. This is designed for people who say, buy 100 ipads to replace clip boards in their hospital. You cannot however, do distribution through any mechanism other than the app store (I had one perspective client who wanted to buy $30k of iPodTouches and give them out to clients, Apple fl…

So you are saying that if someone sells an app (which might be sold with minimal modifications to other hospitals) for the 100 ipads to a hospital as an enterprise solution (let's assume we can get the hospital to buy the iPad directly), the app still has to be put up on the App store? Doesn't that confuse the hell out for users that don't work in the hospital?

I develop iPhone apps selling on the app store, but have never explored the enterprise distribution side of it. With the iPad, it's becoming interesting.

Re: Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?

#78

Post by pkrishnak »

Hi,

I am the CEO of Chaitu Systems. We focus on developing iPhone and iPad applications only, with a team in India that has already delivered some projects. Please connect with me at krishna.kumar@chaitusystems.com if you want to discuss your outsourcing requirements.

Regards,

Krishna Kumar

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