Has anyone developed an app

[hk3948]

So, thinking about developing an app. Now, all I really have is the idea. Would have to likely fund developers etc
Has anyone had any real world experience of this? What's your feedback? What kind of costs were you hit with? Is there any chance of being able to self teach the skills needed to develop yourself or is it way more complex than that?

Apologies if this belongs in another section

 

[Feek]

Apologies if this belongs in another section

Like the programming section?

 

[D.P.]

I work for a company , in a project that has iPhone and android app development.
Basic app development is pretty easy if you are already a coder - just read some books, if you are not you should hire programmers.

A lot depend on the complexity of the app and what back end is needed. Our project has a fairly complex back end and moderate client complexity. Dev costs run about $0.75million a year totally about $3million, but most of that is on server side and back-end infrastructure, legal costs, research. We have only 1 client developer who work about 70% with the client side phone apps, he earns about $80K a year.

You can get some cheaper code monkey do basic dev stuff very cheap.


But I wouldn't look at selling the app for profit directly, really not work it. App should be free and revenue generated by other means.

 

[ng93]

What D.P. said really. If you can already program then app development shouldn't be too difficult of course depending on how complex the app is. As far as monetization goes, that depends on what the app does. Some work best with having a paid version and free trial/basic version, while others will generate more money through being free with advertisements and/or in-app purchases.

 

[hk3948]

Like the programming section?

If this needs to be moved can someone sort it please

Yeah, so this would be a relatively basic app, with no need for networking abilities. It's educational in nature and would probably be free or very cheap? It's not particularly a money making exercise

Yeah, so have read that would probably be a minimum of £7500 start up cost if I had to hire developers

Can anyone confirm this. Is there a cheaper alternative?

 

[kierenharrold]

I have an app in the iOS App Store, was released on 18th May, so its been 4 months.

My costs mainly have been time, lots of time. I've put hundreds of hours in developing this app. It gets addictive, once you release an update you're always looking at the next update to improve on it.

I taught myself Objective-C, wasn't too difficult but i already had programming experience. I would say it's fairly easy for a novice to jump into java/Obj-C for mobile development.

Getting feedback from users is like trying to get blood out of a stone... It is very difficult.

Users expect your app to be free. Expect emails from random people demanding your app to be free.

Over the last 4 months i have tried several ways to monetise the app, with very little success. I tried selling it for £0.69 and only had a few sales. Currently i have it iAd supported and im having a lot more success now.

But my app is kinda of a niche thing, don't think i can say the app name because that would be self promoting.

 

[D.P.]

If this needs to be moved can someone sort it please

Yeah, so this would be a relatively basic app, with no need for networking abilities. It's educational in nature and would probably be free or very cheap? It's not particularly a money making exercise

Yeah, so have read that would probably be a minimum of £7500 start up cost if I had to hire developers

Can anyone confirm this. Is there a cheaper alternative?

As I said, our app developer has an annual salary of about $80,000 so 50K sterling. If your app is relatively simple then it might only be a few weeks work, but don't under estimate that even simple apps can take quit a bit of time to fully QA etc. If you contract out then hourly rates are much higher.

however, there is a large number of code monkeys out there that would work much cheaper but your results will vary. You can easily be looking at a few hundred hours of coding time at 20 quid an hour. I'm sure some students might work even cheaper, their quality may not be appropriate.

 

[D.P.]

I have an app in the iOS App Store, was released on 18th May, so its been 4 months.

My costs mainly have been time, lots of time. I've put hundreds of hours in developing this app. It gets addictive, once you release an update you're always looking at the next update to improve on it.

I taught myself Objective-C, wasn't too difficult but i already had programming experience. I would say it's fairly easy for a novice to jump into java/Obj-C for mobile development.

Getting feedback from users is like trying to get blood out of a stone... It is very difficult.

Users expect your app to be free. Expect emails from random people demanding your app to be free.

Over the last 4 months i have tried several ways to monetise the app, with very little success. I tried selling it for £0.69 and only had a few sales. Currently i have it iAd supported and im having a lot more success now.

But my app is kinda of a niche thing, don't think i can say the app name because that would be self promoting.

That is the thing, hundreds of hours of dev time if paying programmers will really ad up. Users will expect the app to be free.

App development is no get rich quick scheme. The best uses of apps is really as a free addition to some other product or service (e.g. an app that can connect to your new BMW/Nikon DSLR/TV/toaster) , or something many people will download for free and use regularly and you can display ads (simple games, tv guide, calendar).

 

[D.P.]

Edit, also don't forget legal cost etc. You might want to properly protect your app, you might need to use 3rd part information and may need to develop a contract, if you hire programmers then you wan to have proper legal protection, if your app does something which the user could then break/harm something/one then you need libel cover (e.g. if you make a fitness/work out app which someone uses and then injures themselves they could sue you).

I say this because for our apps and technology legal fees are pretty astronomical.