How Much for Basic Mobile Apps

First of all, don't offer to pm me with prices, not interested. This is not a sales thread.

Simple question, how much should I be expected to pay for mobiles on iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows for a simple directory with a media player. The directory is populated from an online xml source, and the media is also web based.

Other than that, there will be a splash screen ad and general about contact pages.

Thanks in advance

Only quote I have had for native iOS/Android apps was around $5k. It was for a more complicated setup than what you are describing but I havnt seen many companies offering low cost mobile apps.
I guess maybe there are apps that just need to be reskined and so on though...

I think you're way out with $5k.

I learned how to do it myself, but I was struggling with various aspects such as the splash screen. I'm not a programmer but I do piss about with code occasionally.

Seriously though, it's actually not a hard task for someone who knows what they're doing. Like I said, it's a simple directory with a media player. Every function can be pulled from the internal libraries.

My honest expectations would be something like $200 each. Someone correct me if I'm wrong..

Why don't you post your project on a freelancing site and take a look at the offers you get?

cooper1210 said:

I think you're way out with $5k.

I learned how to do it myself, but I was struggling with various aspects such as the splash screen. I'm not a programmer but I do piss about with code occasionally.

Seriously though, it's actually not a hard task for someone who knows what they're doing. Like I said, it's a simple directory with a media player. Every function can be pulled from the internal libraries.

My honest expectations would be something like $200 each. Someone correct me if I'm wrong..

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I agree $5k is a bit high but that's based on the assumption that you already have all of the web based work complete.

azurous said:

Why don't you post your project on a freelancing site and take a look at the offers you get?

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Yup, I'll put it up for tender on Guru and will report back

As someone already said, I think you should try posting it on a freelancing site and see the quotes yourself. You can even try Fiverr! Someone may want to do it for $5 just to get reviews.

Gosite said:

As someone already said, I think you should try posting it on a freelancing site and see the quotes yourself. You can even try Fiverr! Someone may want to do it for $5 just to get reviews.

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I'll be happy paying $5 hehe

@davids355 is closer than anyone who replied after him.

If you want to go without your typical foreign worker who freelances for $5 per hour, learned programming last year, can hardly speak English, and doesn't have a reputation, then ya, okay a few hundred. Your project will be dead, if it ever gets off the ground. Your guy won't be around for bug fixes. There will be so many fundamentally flawed algorithms, models and design choices that you'll be just left stranded with nothing but useless code.

First thing to consider is for iOS, you need to own a Mac, those are not cheap. Those cost thousands. So many foreign programmers don't even have access to build iOS apps in the first place.

I think if you're looking for a junior level developer who is freshly educated, he'd be contract based at $60k per year ($5k per month), or salary for $40k per year. How long do you need him for? Multiply it out. If you're thinking hourly, I'm not the best on here, but my resume is pretty solid and I charge $60/hour without problem on here, for example.

This is not a one-size-fits-all problem so don't treat it as so.

macdonjo3 said:

@davids355 is closer than anyone who replied after him.

If you want to go without your typical foreign worker who freelances for $5 per hour, learned programming last year, can hardly speak English, and doesn't have a reputation, then ya, okay a few hundred. Your project will be dead, if it ever gets off the ground. Your guy won't be around for bug fixes. There will be so many fundamentally flawed algorithms, models and design choices that you'll be just left stranded with nothing but useless code.

First thing to consider is for iOS, you need to own a Mac, those are not cheap. Those cost thousands. So many foreign programmers don't even have access to build iOS apps in the first place.

I think if you're looking for a junior level developer who is freshly educated, he'd be contract based at $60k per year ($5k per month), or salary for $40k per year. How long do you need him for? Multiply it out. If you're thinking hourly, I'm not the best on here, but my resume is pretty solid and I charge $60/hour without problem on here, for example.

This is not a one-size-fits-all problem so don't treat it as so.

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I understand your reasoning, but I must reiterate that this is not a complicated project. It's a simple directory and media player. Someone who learned programming "last year" would probably suffice. In terms of lines of code, it is extremely minimal.

To say the project will be dead before it is started. Geesus... it's just a directory application. "There will be so many fundamentally algorithms, models and design choices..." bro, it's a fucking directory, there are no algorithms. Plus I mentioned that I've got a brief background of programming, I can recognise a good project from a bad project...

Given point re: macs being expensive, I've got two Mac pros and an iMac, powerful but expensive pieces of kit. I've already got an Xcode project which nearly covers my requirements, a little more tweaking and I'll have a working app anyway. It's the android, blackberry and windows versions that I would really need outsourcing.

My initial point, I don't need a seasoned programmer with 10 years of experience. It's not that much more complicated then a hello world application...

cooper1210 said:

First of all, don't offer to pm me with prices, not interested. This is not a sales thread.

Simple question, how much should I be expected to pay for mobiles on iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows for a simple directory with a media player. The directory is populated from an online xml source, and the media is also web based.
They probably have what you're looking for in the app sales section.

Other than that, there will be a splash screen ad and general about contact pages.

Thanks in advance

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A great place to go for knowledge is Flippa dot com
See what the going price is and go from there, you can actually contact the seller and have them cater to your needs.

First, smiply looking in the android for developers documents I found skeleton code for playing multimedia on your device, etc. You could technically pull it from other pages by invoking webview functions, but your player might run into trouble here. https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/mediaplayer.html I'd start there and then search for xml functions, etc. It will need to be patched together, but I think you can work with that and edit as you go. Good luck.

cooper1210 said:

I understand your reasoning, but I must reiterate that this is not a complicated project. It's a simple directory and media player. Someone who learned programming "last year" would probably suffice. In terms of lines of code, it is extremely minimal.

To say the project will be dead before it is started. Geesus... it's just a directory application. "There will be so many fundamentally algorithms, models and design choices..." bro, it's a fucking directory, there are no algorithms. Plus I mentioned that I've got a brief background of programming, I can recognise a good project from a bad project...

Given point re: macs being expensive, I've got two Mac pros and an iMac, powerful but expensive pieces of kit. I've already got an Xcode project which nearly covers my requirements, a little more tweaking and I'll have a working app anyway. It's the android, blackberry and windows versions that I would really need outsourcing.

My initial point, I don't need a seasoned programmer with 10 years of experience. It's not that much more complicated then a hello world application...

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Trust me, I've worked with clients like you and everything starts off "as simple as a hello world app" but by the end of the project, I'm just glad I charged hourly for that "hello world app"

If you have an almost working IOS version why not just finish that and port it over to the other platforms? The fact that it's only a few lines of code means absolutely nothing. I used to do computer repair and when I had to do virus removal I had my tools set up to only do a few clicks and wait. I charged $70 per hour to do a few clicks... I had clients say you only did something for 2 minutes why am I paying you this much?? The job might look easy, but most of the time it's not.

You have to look at it as do you want something that is a one and done type deal? Or do you want something you can add new features and maintain painlessly? If you buy something and want to add to it later you might just have to rewrite the whole thing to add just 1 feature.

Trust me, I've worked with clients like you and everything starts off "as simple as a hello world app" but by the end of the project, I'm just glad I charged hourly for that "hello world app"

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THIS EXACTLY! 10000%

Hey guys, I know the difference between a complicated project and a simple project. One program I'm currently outsourcing is costing me £2,500, for a C application.

Believe me when I say that this is a very simple application. I understand the scope of this project, it's fucking small. I'm also astute enough to appreciate that I will not want bells and whistles later.

Damn, even if I did pay $60 per hour, I would expect them to be finished in an hour or so anyway. Anyone experienced enough should be able to crack this one off extremely quickly. It will be like asking an architect to design a shed. I've outsourced more complex projects before for £250 and I received an excellent service. The developer was working on the basis of $60 per hour.

Requirements, build an in app directory whose data comes from an API on my server. Build in a media player. What's so hard?

And for folks to say it would be nearer $5,000 that really is deluded..

cooper1210 said:

Hey guys, I know the difference between a complicated project and a simple project.

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No, you don't, because that's why you started this thread.

macdonjo3 said:

No, you don't, because that's why you started this thread.

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My lack of understanding is price, not complexity.

cooper1210 said:

My lack of understanding is price, not complexity.

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You can't understand price unless you understand complexity, because complexity determines the price! And just because something looks to you as easy as a 'hello world' app, it doesn't actually mean it is that easy, because if it was, you would do it yourself.

Then, there is the problem of extensibility and maintenance. Unless this is a fun project, a non-profit one or even a school assignment/project, then you will almost always extend your application if you want to make more money and listen to your user's feedback of course. As mentioned by someone else above me, you will begin with a hello world app and end with a "Spotify" kind of app in the end (since it's related to your niche).

Maintenance is just as important and goes hand in hand with extensibility. Over time, you will fix bugs, broken features and solve all kind of problems the app will have. You will also have to adapt to the latest OS changes which come out almost every year.

Developers work with user stories and functional/non-functional requirements, they don't guess how easy a project is, as that is a sure way to failure. They guess (estimate) how much time it will take for a specific task (under a specific user story or requirement) to complete, add all the times together and then give you an estimate of the overall time it will take to finish this project and then you are either billed on an hourly basis or monthly basis (as a salary usually), depending on the developer/place of work, etc... in accordance with the previously estimated time.

The developers that bill you on a per-project basis do the same calculations, you just don't get it and it "appears" to you as it is cheaper this way. What I recommend you to do is make a list of all the functional and non-functional requirements (features + constraints of your app) and get an estimate of how many hours it will take to complete them all. Then, hire developers based on their hourly basis, which can vary from $20/hour up to $100 for senior developers in "scarce" complex languages.

Not sure how many times I need to repeat this. It's a simple program, the scope of the project is extremely small. Even my major competitors apps are so basic in terms of functionality. I know for a fact that it's a simple app, the reason why I know this is that I practically created my own version in iOS within a couple of weeks, and that's without any experience in Xcode.

It's the price that I'm not familiar with. For a relatively seasoned mobile app developer, this will probably be one of the most basic contracts. I've worked with .NET / Java and overseeing a project in C99 programming, which is way more intense than these small petty applications.

Yes, if it was a complex app that had to be scalable, I fully appreciate that apps can go into thousands and possibly tens of thousands. But for my application the scope of the project is so fooking small.