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1458279

Suspended
Original poster
May 1, 2010
1,601
1,521
California
I'm working on an idea and would like some feedback from some iOS people. Many people over the years have asked for this app or that app. The problem is that for someone to get their app on the app store, they have to learn to program, pay the annual fees, upload to the store.

The service that I have in mind would change this process so that a company offers a service where you ask for an app to be made or you submit a "ready to go" project and it goes to the app store without you having to pay for an account.

Currently the benefits that many are interested in are:
- supporting old OS (iOS 6.1 to current)
- supporting user requested apps being programmed
- supporting user project being converted to live apps
- supporting small business/utility apps that work together
- many users want simple apps to do simple things, but they aren't viable for someone to take the time to actually make and support.

This would likely ignore games as that is a special field that requires special skills. Ownership policies would be open at this time. Meaning, I could see a case for "requestor keeps all rights, but pays a fee" to "requestor keeps no rights, but the app is for everyone to use"

In other words, I don't have all the details worked out for all the rights, but I think the rights of most would have to be paid for if the user wants to keep the rights.

Q1. Would you support something like this with funding a starter? (if no, what would have to change)

Q2. Would you use this service if it worked well?

Q3. How would you improve this service if you could change / add anything?
 

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Sep 21, 2010
9,612
6,907
I'm not sure you are aware, but there are already turn-key "hire an iOS developer" companies and freelancers, so you would be competing with those existing resources. Nothing wrong with a new competitor trying to get into that field--I just want to make sure you know that it is already a thing.

As for the "ready to go project", I'm not sure what that means exactly. It sounds like someone would be submitting source code for the iOS app to you, which you would then submit to the app store on their behalf? But if they wrote an app, they already have a developer account and could just submit it themselves. So I'm a bit confused about what you mean that service to be.
 

1458279

Suspended
Original poster
May 1, 2010
1,601
1,521
California
I'm not sure you are aware, but there are already turn-key "hire an iOS developer" companies and freelancers, so you would be competing with those existing resources. Nothing wrong with a new competitor trying to get into that field--I just want to make sure you know that it is already a thing.

As for the "ready to go project", I'm not sure what that means exactly. It sounds like someone would be submitting source code for the iOS app to you, which you would then submit to the app store on their behalf? But if they wrote an app, they already have a developer account and could just submit it themselves. So I'm a bit confused about what you mean that service to be.
I'll have to give the first point some more thought, I'm thinking of apps that work together and the are narrow in scope. Like business apps that all work together.

The second point, the service would be a bit different in that you don't have to have a paid account. Apple has free and at least two different paid accounts. This would allow you to have a free account, develop an app, submit the app and have it come up on the store. You actually don't even need the account or even learn to code to request something. You might see something and think "I just need this to work a bit differently"

Example, someone posted a request for an app that would message people telling them to be at Job X at a certain time, then recored when they showed up and have a printable record of all contractors that showed up and for how long.

Not a complex app, but a big time saver. He wouldn't have to learn programming, he wouldn't have to pay for an account, he just posts a request and it shows up on the app store.

If someone does learn to program, they could make a simple app, post the project and get it on the app store. No annual payment of $99 for a simple app that really isn't about making money, it's more about making the system work better for them.

Some projects aren't worth having a pro come in, but if the pro had a bunch of them, it could workout.

What I'm trying to do is find out how many people would actually support or use something like this. If there's enough demand, I could see it being worth doing.
 

D.T.

macrumors G4
Sep 15, 2011
11,050
12,460
Vilano Beach, FL
This has been done in various flavors for years, the business model can be tricky to sustain (there's several costs I can tell you haven't considered), I think you've got too much [of your business case] contingent on the expense of a dev account (which is offset by the dev cost or trivial for working devs/enterprises, so that's a non-issue)

Just my $0.02 as someone with 25+ years of dev/business experience in this sector, a number of startups, successful acquisitions, etc.
 

1458279

Suspended
Original poster
May 1, 2010
1,601
1,521
California
This has been done in various flavors for years, the business model can be tricky to sustain (there's several costs I can tell you haven't considered), I think you've got too much [of your business case] contingent on the expense of a dev account (which is offset by the dev cost or trivial for working devs/enterprises, so that's a non-issue)

Just my $0.02 as someone with 25+ years of dev/business experience in this sector, a number of startups, successful acquisitions, etc.
I can see your point, the $99/yr for a person looking for an app to make money from is nothing. The time to learn programming would be something they would do anyways, so it's nothing to them.

However, I'm thinking about non-devs. People that don't have any interest in ever becoming a dev but have a need for an app that works a certain way. What they do now is live with whatever is out there and they could end up with a dozen different apps that do various things instead of one that does the work of 1/2 of those.

It's looking like a shaky sale at this point. I like the idea, but getting the word out and getting early on support could be tough.

This might have be worth a run, but I could see it going either way.
 
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