I just read a good article about developing iPhone apps called Turning Ideas Into iPhone Applications. It's an article from November, 2008, which I think is still very relevant today. The author, Raven Zachary from O'Reillly Digital Media talks about what it takes from a cost perspective to develop an iPhone app.

Mr. Zachary makes some very good points in his article. The point which struck a chord with me the most is that ideas are basically worth nothing without the ability to execute. I tend to agree with that. After all, a great idea will never come to fruition if you don't have someone who can build it for you. Sure you can probably hire off-shore or get an eager young student in university to do it for you cheap. But as with anything of great value, you tend to get what you pay for. And also as the article points out, it's tough to convince anyone to "partner" with you on the project and share the profits which may or may not come. The risks are just too great for the developer.

One point which is mentioned briefly in Mr. Zachary's article is that when building an iPhone app you also have to consider the costs for project management, QA, marketing, and design. Given the current state of a lot of the apps on the App Store, I think the part about design needs to be stressed a little more. Most developers are not designers. I myself am not a graphic designer. Sure, I can navigate my way around Photoshop if I need something done in a pinch, but it takes me too long and my time is better put towards developing (and blog posts!). Fortunately I was lucky enough to have worked with a great designer in the initial days of building out Tap Forms. I'm thankful that I did because I think Tap Forms is much better than what it could have been had I not had a good designer working with me.

For example, for something as simple in concept as a unit converter application, which would you rather use?

Three cheers to the designer and developer of the app on the right. The folks at tapbots.com have taken unit conversion to new levels of great design and sophistication. All iPhone app developer should aspire to build such beautiful apps. There's so much crap on the app store right now that it's getting a little difficult to find the good ones. But if apps like Convertbot and Weightbot are any indication of what is possible on the iPhone I think we're in for great times ahead. I certainly hope one day that I can make Tap Forms as beautiful as their apps. These guys have certainly set the bar pretty high though.

So when you're figuring out the budget for your next great iPhone app, don't forget to put some of that budget towards a good designer. You'll be thankful you did. And more importantly, your customers will too.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 10:51 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.