So You Have an iPhone App Idea, But Don’t Know How To Program
Pat Here:
If you’re like a lot of people these days, an idea for an iPhone app pops into your head now and again, only to be followed by feelings of doubt. The doubt comes not because your idea isn’t good (you know it’s a great idea, which is why you can’t get it out of your head), but because you don’t know how to get it from your head to an iPhone.
A few months ago, my friend and I had an idea for an app - and not knowing how to code or program didn’t stop us. A couple of days ago, our first app was approved and on sale in the app store. It was really an awesome feeling. We can’t wait for our next app to come out within the next few weeks.
Actually, Quoc does know how to program. but he’ll actually be telling you why we decided to outsource our apps, instead of developing our apps himself. We’ll save that for a later post.
Map It Out
Before you spend some time to find someone to develop your app for you, you’ll need to take your idea and figure out exactly how you want it to work. The easiest way to do this is to pretend you’re using your app on an iphone, and page-by-page make note of what you want to see and where you want each page to go. If it’s a game, think about exactly what you want to see or would want to do. Instead of making a list, you can easily organize all of this in a bubble diagram.
Now, know that even though you mapped it out your way, your app may not be able to perform exactly how you had wished. So no, a laser beam will not be able to shoot out the end of the iPhone, so you can forget about that. However, just map out exactly how you want it, and your developer will be able to tell you whether something you had asked for is not possible on the iPhone.
Where to Find iPhone Developers
In addition to your basic Google Keyword Search, you can find a load of iPhone developers hungry to work on your project on various site such as elance.com or odesk.com. We chose elance because it’s kind of like ebay - you post your job, and people bid to work on it. You can choose your favorite bidder based on price, portfolio and/or reviews.
You might be wondering about people stealing your idea when posting your job or asking for quotes. It doesn’t usually happen, but it is something you should still be cautious about. When posting your job or asking for a quote, you can just give away the basic idea of the app (no details) and ask the potential developer to sign a non-disclosure agreements (NDA) before giving them the whole story. Note that their bids may adjust a little after you disclose all of the information and detail s about your app to them.
On elance, they will provide you with a non-disclosure agreement you can use. If you can’t find one, here’s a sample NDA (on elance). Have them sign it and give it back to you (usually in a PDF format), and you should be good to go. If they steal your idea, you now have proof that it was yours first and you can take legal action accordingly.
Next Up
Next, Quoc will talk about outsorcing and why it’s a benefit, even if you do know how to program. I’ll also be talking more about the prices you may see along the way to get your app onto an iPhone, and other expenses you may have along the way, so you can get an idea of how much money you’re going to have to invest.
Thanks, and please check out our app, iPopit! on sale in iTunes today!
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Great article! I have a very similar story (in fact I’m writing a free ebook on it, maybe I’ll send you a pre-release version for your comments). Ironically, about 5 years ago, I provided marketing services on eLance, and now I’m a customer, hiring programmers on eLance!
It’s very nice of you guys to be so transparent and detailing your journey for others to follow. Good luck in your mobile app. endeavors!
Jay Liew
http://twitter.com/jaysern
Hi, i’m working at a financial institute as a programmer and started iPhone programming last year in order to try and start my own mobiles/ecommerce company… First fiddle along and if income can be generated in order to support me (partially) financially i’d love to switch over (80/20 - 50/50 - own company)..
I am very (VERY) curious about investment modals for relative small ideas, and if you let developers say how many hours of work are needed for a job?
I developed iGroupEmail, and have some other ideas but as i am only working at nights on my own ideas i’d love to outsource as long as it is within financial bounds… Hope to see more on this and, keep it up (both being transparant and getting succes!)..
Going to tweet your site along
Hi There,
The elance NDA has a 5 year period (clause 2). one of the developers has asked I change to one year.
What do you think? One year is prety short.
Cheers
Leo
Hi There,
I am really glad to see that you have suggested a very easy way to get the iPhone ideas real,It would be really a helpful post for those who have an idea but don’t know how to code it.
Now i would like to introduce ourselves as a primer provider of Mobile app development services around,we have developed around 100+ mobile apps successfully and many are under development phase.As far as iPhone apps are concerns we majorly deal in iPhone and we have developed around 50+ apps till date.
If in future you feel a need of our assistance feel free to contact us .We’ll provide you a cost effective solution for all your Mobile application development queries .
Cheers
Arpit
732-734-0138
Although NDA’s are a good idea, it is worth noting that enforcement may be an issue, especially when working with developers in a foreign country.
The NewAppIdea.com Team
Great article. In the future I can see a lot more people outsourcing their iPhone development, simply because it is so much cheaper. Also, people should really choose their developer wisely as there is huge differences in quality.
Hello, I was wondering if I was to find someone to build my APP and lets say that there were over sea’s, what happens when there done building it for me? How do I see the work? How do I get all the information to Apple to try to get in the APPstore. My concern is what happens when my APP is done. I have the Idea for the APP, I pay someone to build it and then what? Thanks, MIke mlbaa@aol.com
very nice article thanks for the share
Here’s a site similar to elance.com but aimed at multi-year ouitsourcing contracts. OutsourcerMasrketplace.com
Hi
Great article. I was just wondering how you register your application with apple and how you pay them their 30% and how they pay you ? Does the developer organise this?
Kris
I don’t know, the idea of an NDA frankly makes me laugh and I would be shocked if you were able to uphold it in court and if I were a developer I wouldn’t sign it. There’s a reason why most startup investors don’t sign NDAs, they see so many ideas that it would be very easy for people to later say they ripped one off when really they just followed someone else’s similar idea. I just don’t put stock in ideas being worth much, it’s execution that’s valuable. It’s challenging, but it’s the truth.
i got an idea if anyone wants to make it- its a game in the form of “telephone” or “operator”- where you tell someone a phrase and pass it along to friends to see how messed up it gets the further its gossiped? with this game, you would log in, and a random text message would generate and be shown to you for about 3 seconds. you have to memorize it best you can, and it gets texted randomly to another person with the app, and you wont get a text unless the program is running.