Who can answer three basic questions on iPhone apps? Help! :)

[romo218]

Hey I have a few semi-basic questions about iPhone apps. If you know the answers to any of them please respond as it would help me ton. Even if you dont know the exact answer, it'll help me with any input. Trapster is a good example of what im looking for because it uses a map and it receives/sends small amounts of data constantly.

1) How much on average does it cost to hire someone to code an app for you. Specifically, how much do you think the app Trapster took to program? Are there any specific other apps you know how much it took to code? I need estimates, because I have nothing.

2) Apps like Trapster, send and receive small amounts of data all the time? What controls all of this data? Im guessing a server. But what are the server's specs? How many? Price per month?

3) With 3.0 SDK now out, you can transmit data through bluetooth apparently. Can you transfer all the data from trapster on the iPhone so that you can read it on another device in the car? So this device will act pretty much the same as the app. Since you can now push for apps, can you make it so the push goes to the device automatically so you can use your iphone for something else than the app at the same time?


Thanks!

 

[DreamPod]

1) How much on average does it cost to hire someone to code an app for you.

That's a hard one, because I'm sure very few people have ever coded an app for someone else for pay, without being part of a company or something. Really, it depends on how much time it takes - the average programmer earns $60,000 a year, so you figure if an app takes one person a month to program, it might cost 1/12 of that, or $5000. If that app took two people one month to make, $10,000, etc. But of course I'm just guessing, and someone programming for contract may charge more - if they are working for themselves, they don't get company benefits like insurance and stuff, and have to pay extra taxes, so they may charge more just for that, and they may also think they could earn more money writing an app for themselves, so would charge extra for the time they could be spending doing something else. And of course that's not counting any offers of potential royalties you could use to buy down the fee.

2) Apps like Trapster, send and receive small amounts of data all the time? What controls all of this data? Im guessing a server. But what are the server's specs? How many? Price per month?

Looking at that app, most of its data sounds like it's pulled from their web server, on which they also host a messageboard and stuff. People post where they see speed traps (supposedly they've got a large number of people posting data for them), their server stores it, and the app finds the data for the location the GPS in your phone says you are at. Their server serves data to a few different devices and of course the website itself. Web servers have widely varying costs, depending on things like if you are paying a monthly fee to use a part of someone else's or if you actually build a computer and have a company host it for you.

 

[firewood]

They are not basic questions, but business research, which will involve some work.

Experienced iPhone app developers seem to be getting paid more than the average programmer these days, and consultants often charge 1.5X to 2X the hourly rate of a typical full-time employee (with benefits, vacation, etc.) doing the same thing. So multiply that example above by at least 3X. Also, don't forget about server expenses, IT development and support for the server, graphics design, marketing, customer service, and etc.

but ymmv.