Need advice on which route I should take for porting app from Android to iOS [closed]

Question

I have developed this android application and I am looking to port it to iOS.

My questions are:

1) I am planning to finance the iOS development with the money earn't from the android sales which is about $200 at the moment. Would it be reasonable to get the project done for this amount even if it is outsourced to elance or odesk etc?

2) I have heard the code quality for outsourced iOS projects to be bad, I dont want any memory leaks and crashes because of overflows etc.

3) I currently dont have a full time job so I can technically do the project myself, however I dont have a apple pc or iPhone (dont really want to get them either).

I know C pretty well but I haven't really released a major C project that must be 100% stable. How many hours to learn iOs and do the port? And would it be worth my time taking into consideration that if I do enjoy it I may get into it fulltime.

4) What would the demand be like for someone that can do Android and iOS?

Thanks

Answer 1

$200 would pay for maybe half a day's work from a decent iOS developer. I'd recommend investing in a Mac (you can do development without an iPhone, at least to begin with) and learn how to do the port yourself. The employment opportunities for someone who can do both platforms are enormous.

(also, iPhone owners tend to be much more willing to spend money on apps, so the additional sales alone may make doing the port yourself a worthwhile investment)

Answer 2

1. Can you get someone to write the iOS version of your app for $200-ish? No. Or, if you can, good luck with that. We don't know anything about how complex your app is, but most any app that people will be willing to pay even $0.99 for will require more than 20 hours of work (usually a lot more). That means that you'll be offering less than $10/hour. The going rate is significantly higher than that.

2. Is code quality poor when you outsource? That will naturally depend on who you're dealing with, but I don't think you get to be picky for < $10/hour.

3. Don't have or want a Mac, but is it worth developing myself? If you want to write an app that you'll submit to the App Store, getting a Mac will be your first order of business. Look at a Mac Mini, possibly used, if you want to save money. Learning iOS development will require an investment of time that's significantly greater than your investment in hardware. How long it'll take depends on you, what you already know, etc. In terms you can probably relate to, you're looking at an effort similar to that required to learn Android development.

4. Market for iOS and Android developers? Mobile development is definitely a hot industry right now, and people who can do both well are a rare commodity. There's a lot to know, though, and you're fooling yourself if you think you can jump in easily. In addition to being able to build apps, you'll also need to know something about building the infrastructure that drives the most useful apps.

Answer 3

I think you're going to have to do it yourself. Keep in mind, that to release an iPhone app you need to be in the iPhone developer program, which I believe is $99/yr. So you really have $101 to work with. And you'll probably want an actual iPhone (or iPod Touch) to test the program(s).

My business advice would be to focus some more on android development. Extend this app, make some new ones. Generate some more revenue, and then re-visit the idea of iOS ports in a few months with a bigger bank account.

Answer 4

well why you thinking about other people to port your application ? It has many disadvantages

1) You giving away your android code.

2) What if you update your app , you cant sure weather the first person who worked for it will available again , you will end up searching for another guy, who has to understand previous code in order to add any new functionality .

on the flip side

If u really coded that android app yourself then learning objective c is not that difficult.Oh wait you talking about hours to learn ios programming ? are you kidding ? .

My suggestion is learn objective-c ,and do it yourself ,it may take some time but trust me in long term you will be benefited.

Resources to learn ios programming :

1)Beginning iOS 5 Application Development (book)

2)If you need sample code about a particular class,Browse through apple documentation code. (its pretty good)

P.S : You can use VMware to install mac on windows (but its illegal according to apple world!) ,Try to learn and code in that virtual machine until you get enough money to buy a new macbook pro ( you can find used ones cheap in craiglist)

Answer 5

You should look into PhoneGap and see if it will help you with porting it to iOS. You don't need a Mac to do the port because PhoneGap basically turns your app into an HTML5 app that can run on practically any device.

Answer 6

Reports are that many cross-platform developers make between 2X to 10X more money in the iOS App store than for their paid Android apps, so you might want to consider investing more. Total iOS app development costs have been reported in the range of $25k to $250k for quality apps from experienced developers, so $200 may not even get you started.

Strictly ported apps are likely to not look or act right to the majority of your customer base, so you may want to consider a redesign rather than a port if you want to maximize revenue.

There does exist a demand for developers who have experience with both iOS and Android development. Check you local job listings for some stats.