So I’ll just lay out the harsh reality: if you have zero programming background and little more than a vague outline of what you want to do the odds are you will have little luck finding a good developer, let alone making a decent iPhone application without spending way too much money and time.  My advice if you want to execute your idea efficiently would be to first:

1. Think through what it is that you want to create – sounds obvious but I don’t mean in a half-ass way, I mean really walk through the usage scenarios and create mock-ups of what you want to create. I know this is painful if you don’t come from a programming or engineering background but it is a must do if you want to be taken seriously by developers.
2. Create full specifications of what you need – write down every single thing that you think you will need to be created. Developers are just developers, especially the ones you can afford, and if they could resolve the unknown design problems with your idea then why would they need you?  See a great post by Joel Spolsky on why specs are so important.
3. Think about how much time, money, effort you are willing to put in to the project – odds are your project won’t be done in 1 week, so you need to make sure it is an idea you are comfortable working on and marketing once it is developed.  Basically, whatever time frame you think is possible, double it.
4. Learn what the iPhone SDK can and can’t do – this makes it much easier to know what to ask for and it also helps avoid your getting screwed by inexperienced or dishonest developers

Once you have spent the time to go through these steps you need to decide if you are looking for local or offshore developers.  Offshore will be cheaper but the additional time it takes to create very thorough specs and communicate what you need is significant.  The budget question is an important one because odds are you will not find a developer partner who will work for equity alone.  See my post on finding the right developer here.  Most important steps I followed before pulling the trigger on the idea were:

1. Check the App Store thoroughly for precedents or competitors to your idea
2. Check whether there are any companies or games that replicate your product on the web (for example in the flash games world)
3. Think about pricing and what you would need to break even.  If you are creating a niche product that will move 20-30 units a day odds are it does not pay to outsource development
4. Think of a narrative for your product.  Gimmicks have been done and they give you very little to work with.  You need to think about why bloggers, journalists and users would care about your 1 app out of 30k+ in the App store.

Bottom line is if you spend the time to walk through all of the design and planning yourself and can be bothered to learn the basics of the SDK you will be in a good position to know how to spot talented developers either in the U.S. or abroad.  The best way to get developers to respect and want to work with you is to be precise and exact with your idea and your specs from the get go.  Developers are getting inquiries from dozens of “next big thing” idea people so show that you have thought through your project enough and they will choose to work with you over their other options.  That’s right, finding the right developers is just as much about you convincing them as them convincing you, especially when it comes to iPhone app development.

Update: Just found a great article about developing an iPhone app from scratch here.  Includes some good resource links at the end of the article.  Also see Joel Spolsky’s blog for great project manager tips for when you do decide to begin your app development.

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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 Farm^tm , 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:

1. Make sure the developer guarantees that they will have a bug-free working version of the application acceptable to Apple in terms of code quality (there are cases where the code is buggy and Apple rejects your application, so you want to make sure the developer stands by their work at least through this initial approval process)
2. That the developer relinquish and assign all worldwide rights and privileges and code to the contractor
3. That there be some sort of penalty for late delivery (to prevent low-ball time estimates just to get your business)
4. That the code and application created be built with proprietary and non conflicted code (you don’t want a previous contractor to recognize or see that their IP has been copied by the developer – this is a logical shortcut some developers might try to take to leverage past projects)
5. Make sure you have a process established in case something goes wrong in one of the steps of delivery (need to have clear plan for payment after a milestone or proceedings to fix flaws within a certain time frame)
6. Define the method and frequency of payment.  Define this early so there are no delays or discussions later

Obviously not all contracts or projects will be so clearly defined so then an hourly wage would be better.  I recommend using oDesk for this as they allow you to monitor work in progress, pay via credit card on line, and even challenge a payment if you feel the work is not executed as agreed.  Not sure how easy contesting a charge is, but again having the possibility of doing this ensures a minimum level of accountability.  All depends what you are looking for.

With regard to the contract, I would recommend you use an experienced lawyer because you want to be certain you are creating a contract that protects your claim to the idea, the code and its implementation, especially if your application does well.  I think anyone willing to go it without a strong contract is risking getting screwed because there is nothing preventing a developer from claiming ownership or filing in the App store under their own certificate if they so choose.

In terms of other legal issues to consider around your idea, make sure that:

1. The name of your application is not trademarked or otherwise reserved
2. The idea and concept you are using is not copyrighted or patented.  The laws around this are inconsistent, divided and are always changing so best to consult with an attorney or at minimum spend the time to educate yourself if you have any concerns
3. Create a legal entity to shield yourself from any sort of liability.  In case there was a trademark or copyright issue you were not aware of, you want to protect your personal assets from any sort of litigation that might result down the line.  This can be done fairly cheaply, just head to LegalZoom to figure out which structure works best.
4. In terms of any music or images or code you use, make sure that it is not protected or under a general public license.  You do not want to face royalty payments for a certain song playing in the background or be forced to share your code because you used a line of code or an image protected under the GNU General Public Use license.

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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.

I’ll say from my experience so far that outsourced iPhone app development is a big business but seems to have largely remained a practice for the enterprise realm.  Many start-ups and medium sized businesses are outsourcing their work and sometimes probably don’t even know it as it is passed through local development houses.  What I have learned through the various quotes I received was that any type of iPhone app development can run in the tens of thousands of dollars in the US, both because of the demand for developers but also because of what I noticed in several cases was developer inexperience.  Many of the quotes I received were astronomical (in both time and money) and were by development houses that didn’t even have one iPhone application in the App Store.  Bottom line, iPhone application development is far from becoming a commodity so you have to be very careful about whom you hire.

So why has there been little discussion about this topic?  Part of it I’m sure was Apple’s until recent tight NDA keeping discussion on the web muted.  Also, while there is clearly altruism amongst the iPhone developer community in terms of learning (the documentation and forums for learning both Objective C and the iPhone SDK are great), there just doesn’t seem to be such a push to help non-programmers who want to create something.  This is probably because people like me who are trying to create something through an external / outsourced process, try to HIDE IT, as they are worried about sharing credit or appearing as less than a real company.  While I understand this reasoning, I think it’s important to show everyone that people without much programming experience can create something of quality as well.

So I hope this blog is helpful and more importantly I hope that the advice I give actually works out to be a testament to how to create a great application.  If my application bombs, then just do the opposite of everything I write and you should be fine.  And PLEASE share your experience or post any good sources of advice for other readers.