Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development? • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by nl » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 1:29 AM UTC

gte910h wrote: post #17

Mankhool wrote: post #10

I got a very rough quote from a Toronto firm to do a location based app for web, iPhone and Android for approximately $370,000. I just talked to a Vancouver developer who charges $120/hr. As others have mentioned there are numerous variables, but most developers will usually be happy to do an initial free consultation to learn more about your project so that they can at least ballpark a figure to you.

What? I can't imagine spending that much money on a non-game development effort for a mobile device. What the heck does it do?

"location based app for web, iPhone and Android for approximately $370,000"

Note the "AND"'s. I suspect this isn't some simple thing - it's probably a 300K web app + 2 35K mobile apps.

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

#32

Post by briancooley » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 1:38 AM UTC

duck wrote: post #30

grinich wrote: post #13

I do freelance iPhone/iPad dev work. I'm in Boston. grinich@mit.edu For reference, I built this: http://michaelgrinich.com/hackernews/ The rest of my portfolio isn't yet online. Send me an email and I can show you more.

I had looked at your hackernews app a while back and it seemed pretty nice and well built... but I have to question charging for an app that delivers the content of a free 3rd party site like HN.

Why? The iPhone has mobile Safari, and the HN clientele are certainly smart enough to know how to use it.

Clearly the app has to deliver some value outside of the content. Think bottled water.

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

#33

Post by byoung2 » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 1:45 AM UTC

I've worked with Take 5 Labs (http://takefivelabs.com/) for iPhone app development. They developed an app for the last company I worked for (http://www.veritasprep.com/iphone-gmat-practice-quiz/). That app was in the $5-10k range.

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

#34

Post by NiftyIon » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 2:07 AM UTC

Hey. We have a team of wanna-be iPhone app developers made up of ~6 people. We're high schoolers with a few years programming/graphics design experience.

We're just starting up. If you're interested in maybe outsourcing something to us, shoot me an email. Since I understand that we're not experienced iPhone developers and maybe not even experienced developers in general (I'd like to think we're pretty decent, but maybe that's teenage arrogance speaking), it would be incredibly cheap.

But we're dedicated, have spare time, want to learn, and we would be willing to accommodate changing schedules, weird requests, whatever, if it means we get a chance.

My email is at Gmail.com.

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

#35

Post by grinich » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 2:24 AM UTC

briancooley wrote: post #32

duck wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had looked at your hackernews app a while back and it seemed pretty nice and well built... but I have to question charging for an app that delivers the content of a free 3rd party site like HN.

Why? The iPhone has mobile Safari, and the HN clientele are certainly smart enough to know how to use it. Clearly the app has to deliver some value outside of the content. Think bottled water.

I like the bottled water analogy. :-) Thanks for that.

The app isn't a huge moneymaker, and was never meant to be. I built it out of frustration and only later decided to throw it up on the store. Building against an api-less site was a fun challenge and I learned a ton. It also uses the Three20 framework, which was an interesting experience. (absolutely no documentation at the time)

Think of it as buying me a cup of coffee to help fund a side-project. Next update should have an iPad version, too.

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

#36

Post by davidcann » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 2:32 AM UTC

yish wrote: post #19

The going rate for a great developer/designer with lots of mobile experience here in SF is in the ~150 an hour range. I've seen this price go up significantly in the last couple months, primarily due to high demand at the moment. You can probably get a little cheaper outside the area and definitely less offshore, but even then a good offshore house will run you $60 and they often don't like doing fixed bids at those…

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 this is an agency rate, not an individual developer/designer rate? or is this the rate you're making personally?

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

#37

Post by NiftyIon » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 2:37 AM UTC

faramarz wrote: post #2

Thanks for the question. I'll be monitoring this thread, because I'm entertaining the thought of outsourcing my iPad app. development as well. Upvoted

Hey, I commented earlier on this thread: http://hackerne.ws/item?id=1251640

Although I do feel a bit spammish writing again (when you've already said you'd be monitoring), I just want to emphasize that if you willing to outsource to a group of moderately trained but dedicated high schoolers, we'd be very glad to accomodate - and would do so cheaply.

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

#38

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 2:55 AM UTC

davidcann wrote: post #36

yish wrote: post #19

The going rate for a great developer/designer with lots of mobile experience here in SF is in the ~150 an hour range. I've seen this price go up significantly in the last couple months, primarily due to high demand at the moment. You can probably get a little cheaper outside the area and definitely less offshore, but even then a good offshore house will run you $60 and they often don't like doing fixed bids at those…

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…

[deleted]

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

#39

Post by barry-cotter » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 3:07 AM UTC

edster wrote: post #22

I'll be happy to talk to you about your app. I've been developing freelance iphone apps since day 1 of the beta. I've had apps featured at the All Things D conference, NY Times, all of the gadget websites and one of my apps was chosen as one of the top 20 apps of 2009 by a prominent magazine. I live an Ann Arbor MI, but I've done several projects from companies in CA including a prominent app for a San Jose based com…

The email address you put in on registering is only visible to pg, so you need to add your email to your profile if you want others to contact you.

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

#40

Post by rdl » Fri, Apr 09, 2010, 3:08 AM UTC

davidcann wrote: post #36

yish wrote: post #19

The going rate for a great developer/designer with lots of mobile experience here in SF is in the ~150 an hour range. I've seen this price go up significantly in the last couple months, primarily due to high demand at the moment. You can probably get a little cheaper outside the area and definitely less offshore, but even then a good offshore house will run you $60 and they often don't like doing fixed bids at those…

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 have seen 150/hr corp to corp or 1099 for single-person developers.

Time spent getting contracts, doing administration, etc. means you can't bill for 100% of your time, but you can definitely make 200-300k/yr pre-tax pre-expense if you work like a dog. Taxes in CA will cut that down to 100-150k net, so it is more like a 100-200k/yr job.