Mobile Phone Application Development etc

lawtz04

Hi all,


I have an idea for a mobile phone application, and a small budget.


I need a number of pieces of advice I think. From a business point of view, I presume I would need to set up a ltd company for the application?


For the application itself, I have been looking at using Indian developers from a freelance website (at least then I have some money protection and can judge on feedback etc).


Has anyone gone down this road? My application is a money saving application which isn't overally complicated hopefully to develop.


Thanks

buglawton

I've used a Freelancer type site to commission work before. One experience went well, a subsequent one very badly. The 'freelancers' are expert at gaming the feedback system. For example, you cannot give feedback if the project is not complete. But to complete it you need to make all payments. If the freelancer goes AWOL after you put in a large deposit which needed to be taken out of escrow so he 'could expense starting work', then you're stuffed.

AJXX

lawtz04 wrote: »

I have an idea for a mobile phone application, and a small budget.

Unfortunately these two don't go well together - to break into this market you'll likely need to take what you already have as your "small budget" and times it by 15.

Why?

- Advertising/Marketing

- Design / Development costs (Target market? iOS or Android or both remember you'll have to pay design/development costs twice for each platform).

- Publishing costs (e.g. Apple charge £99 per year as far as I'm aware just for publishing abilities and the App Store is notoriously difficult to get into due to Apple's stringent policies hence you may have to re-design/re-code the app several times - Google Play charges $25 just to register as a developer)

Costs soon quickly mount up - I'd expect a decent entry level app to cost in the region of £5k - £10k.

Angry Birds is said to have cost circa £97k to create!

RobTang

If its an app to support an existing business eg to help you or customers its not too bad and you keep costs justifiable.


If its a just a random idea either program it yourself or forget about it, you're better off buying a lottery ticket the odds are better and you have to put less work in.

lawtz04

Thanks for the replies all, and the advice.

My app is fairly simple and I hope to gain some publicity due to its nature. The only problem is that start up money. I will have to make it clear to any developer I use it must meet the standards required to be allowed in the stores.

Ill also be wary of the feedback issues you mention.

Thanks again!

forgotmyname

A hint on what type of app and how many users in what category?

A game thats free with adverts or a game thats £how much

Using a foreign company to write it maybe OK but if it goes wrong are you free to go to that country and try to sue them for yout money back?

Take a course and write it yourself?

Bit more info?

paddyrg

One problem is that things that seem simple to a non-techie may actually be somewhat involved to do properly. Got any database access? Now we have a client/server model with all the required role segregation, security implications, user and maintenance interfaces, hosting, etc. It seems simple, but isn't, and you have to get that stuff right.

Seriously, as above, expect 5 figures for anything beyond trivial

agrinnall

If they are still available go back and watch the last couple of episodes of The Apprentice, where one of the finalists wanted the £250K to develop an app. She lost, and one of the reasons was because experts in app development thought she would go through the whole lot in a few months. Unless your definition of small budget is based on Alan Sugar's net worth then the chances are you'll spend the lot and have nothing to show for it.

imin83

Not sure what's the law in UK, but you don't need to set up any company just to have your app published in Play Store.

AndyPix

I am a developer and have a google play developers license.


The 97k quoted above for the Angry birds is probly about right, but that is due to having to pay all the artists, music composers, storyline creators etc etc and the actual programming wouldnt have cost anywhere near that figure ..


If its a simple program, with a normal user interface, ie a few things to click, a few places to input information then it could be developed very cheaply.


If you want to PM me the basic premise, and what you require, I will give you an idea how many hours work it would be to code that, and then you are better equipped to get a proper quote from a freelancer


And yeah, you dont need to be a company, just set up your app, publish it to the store and then advertise it