I have noticed on a few developer forums like this one that there are a decent amount of people who are looking for guidance as to how best execute their ideas. Most often these “idea people” are berated by the hardcore developers in the forums, written off as little more than a symptom of the iPhone app store hype. While no doubt there are a decent amount of Trism or iShoot wannabes who give the rest of us a bad name, I am writing this post for those of you who think you have something good and are actually serious about getting your product developed and following through. While I am still working on my 1st app, and have no idea how it will do in the App Store, I can tell you that I sat on my idea for a good 6 months so I have a pretty good idea of how hard it is to get started and where the pitfalls are.
Read more…
If you are considering outsourcing some or all of your project then you should definitely think about having a Non Disclosure Agreement signed by everyone that will see your specifications or idea. You can find some decent NDAs on Docstoc and then simply put your name or Company name in the document or have a lawyer help adapt it for your needs. Especially with outsourcing the project abroad, it is just too difficult to know whether you can trust all of the developers you will speak with. While I am sure most NDAs won’t hold up internationally anyways, even the fact that someone is willing to go through the trouble of printing, signing, and scanning says something in my mind.
Once you have a signed NDA and you have sent out your specs and chosen someone to your liking the next step is drafting a contract. What worked well for me was to create a contract between the developer and myself outlining, via milestones and detailed specs, what was going to be done at each stage. While it takes a lot more up front work on your end to know exactly what you are looking for, it pays off in the end by having everything out on the table for everyone involved. I learned from my experience developing application for The App Farmtm , that it is worth the trouble to get it right the first time to avoid confusion down the line.
Things to consider in terms of a contract with a developer for an iPhone application:
Read more…
When I decided to create my application idea by going with international development it took me quite some time to figure out the best way to do it. I’m pretty resourceful at finding what I need on the web so when I couldn’t find any advice on the topic I decided to document my process for others thinking about outsourced development.
Being new to programming and having just started to learn the iPhone SDK I felt time pressure to get my app idea out to market before someone else beat me to the punch. I thought about the trade off between time, money and certainty of getting a launchable product and decided that I should invest the money necessary to get a working version into the App Store as quickly as possible. That way I could also put more time on designing the game as well as the marketing.
Read more…
