[consulting] iPhone App & Drupal Pricing Ballpark

[Jesse Feiler]

I totally agree with Greg's points except the last one. The iOS learning curve can be very steep (iOS was invented last week to replace the outdated "iPhone OS" name in view of the fact that iOS runs both iPad and iPhone as well as iPod touch--actually it was licensed from Cisco by Apple).

Build in a big pad and then double it, particularly if working in the physical constraints of an iPhone screen is new to you and it the navigation tools for users on both iPhone and iPad are new to you. Without this leeway, you may get an app up and running but it won't look right--and may not make it through the App Store's review if you trample on the user interface guidelines.

That said, I'm not certain the client should pay all of this start-up learning curve. First of all, I don't know how you can transfer that expertise to the client after they've paid for it. You'll have that expertise, and as Greg points out, your second iOS app is a lot easier to do. If it's for the same client, that's OK, but if it's for another client, you'll wind up charging the new client much less. Second of all, iOS is a great environment in which to develop once you get up to speed. 

P.S. Read, re-read, and re-re-read the iPhone/iPad user interface guidelines, and think about what it means for users to interact with a computer that they hold in their hand.


> Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:42:18 -0700
> From: "Greg Holsclaw" <greg at t2media.com>
> Subject: Re: [consulting] iPhone App & Drupal Pricing Ballpark
> To: "'A list for Drupal consultants and Drupal service/hosting
> 	providers'"	<consulting at drupal.org>
> Message-ID: <00b901cb0f15$fbaeae10$f30c0a30$@com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Without knowing the specifics app, it can be a bit hard consider. For our
> Dog Park Finder app,
> http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dog-park-finder/id362002678?mt=8 , (Drupal
> backend, link for example we don't need more downloads doing fine as it) I
> initially spec'ed it out and got 6 bids. Ranged from $3000 at $20/hr to
> $18,000 at around $75/hr. The low end were all off-shore vendors with less
> provable experience to high end established Houston based group.
> 
> We decided to do the dev in house (for a myriad of reasons,
> cost/maintenance/desired in-house expertise..).With the learning curve it
> was over 200 hours to develop (but that curve has spun out another app
> already and another to come, all Drupal backend).  
> 
> If you are starting from zero iphone dev experience, you had better add a
> huge pad to your total time estimate. There are many twists both in the
> iPhone and Drupal intregration you will have to account for.
> 
> If you client is willing to pay for both the product and the learning
> curve, more power to you.
> 
> Greg
> 
> 
> From: consulting-bounces at drupal.org [mailto:consulting-bounces at drupal.org]
> On Behalf Of Josh
> Sent: Friday, June 18, 2010 11:08 AM
> To: consulting at drupal.org
> Subject: [consulting] iPhone App & Drupal Pricing Ballpark
> 
> Hello Fellow Drupalers!
> 
> I'm starting iphone app development and have plans to make a Drupal-powered
> back-end for some of the more mundane parts of the new iphone app (News,
> Directory, Locations, etc).
> 
> Does anyone on this list have experience with marrying those two
> technologies? Most of our websites start at 75 hours and go up from there
> into the 600 hours range. (Think $7,500+ for our clients.)
> 
> When I estimate our time for an iPhone app, we're getting close to 130
> hours+ 
> 
> Does this sound right? Do you think your clients would pay for iphone apps
> in the $13,000+ range? To be honest, this feels high. But with very little
> experience in the iPhone app world, this may be low.
> 
> My apologies if this message somehow violates the protocol for asking these
> kinds of prices. I'm not looking for someone to do the work, I'm just
> looking for some feedback who do this work as well.
> 
> Josh
> 
> 
> Josh Miller WEB / TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR
> HAAN MARKETING+COMMUNICATIONS
> T  (765) 423-5470          123 North 8th Street
> F  (765) 742-2881          Lafayette, IN 47901
> www.haanmc.com
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