iPhone Apps: DIY - Template, or Hire a Developer?

July 18, 2011 in Services

[prMac.com] Plymouth, Michigan - There seems to be an iPhone app for just about everything these days. Do you have an app idea in the back of your mind, but just don't know how to go about creating it? "Well, fear not. You've got options," says Scott Lorenz, President of Westwind iPhone App Publicity. "You can either choose to create the app yourself from scratch, you can use a template or you can hire a developer to create the app for you. Either way, creating an app for your product or service is a fantastic marketing tool."

Lorenz says that Chicago-based company Red Foundry, Inc. allows business owners to create an app for free using their templates. "If you have a membership to Apple's developer program (which costs $99 a year), you'll be able to publish the app to Apple's mobile-software marketplace. But if that seems a little too intense for you, Red Foundry can publish the app," says Lorenz. "They'll also give you performance analytics for just $39 a month."

"The entire app-creating process takes about six days. The process is something of a fill-in-the-blank, with you adding your own images and company or service information. It is all pretty straightforward and appears to be relatively stress-free," adds Lorenz.

"If you're more of a do-it-yourself person, you can make your app sans template. If you've got some programming experience under your belt, then you might want to create your app from scratch instead of using a template. You can download software-development kits from Apple and Google, which will allow you to use the programming languages behind apps. Granted, these kits come with some helpful hints and tools, but you'll need to be tech-savvy to successfully use them," says Lorenz.

"Let's circle back to this Apple developer membership. It will let you publish as many apps as you like for an annual fee of $99. As for the Android side of things, they only charge a one-time $25 developer-registration fee for publishing apps to their marketplace. So, if you're happy to log the hours of labor, and pay Apple and/or Android, then by all means, create the app yourself," concludes Lorenz.

Lorenz says there is a third option and that is to get in touch with an app developer and have them create the app for you. "You can search Google, find apps you like and contact their developers. However many developers just do their own apps and are not open to accept outside projects. Then there's the cheap overseas developer. As a publicist who promotes iPhone apps I can tell you about dozens of stories from my clients where the language barrier and culture barrier delayed or stopped their iPhone App project, with no money saved, so beware if you go overseas." "One developer I can recommend is Twisted Castle mobile development company. They're a team of young, motivated individuals just looking to create quality products and innovative ideas. If you contact Twisted Castle, they'll take care of the entire app creating process for you. From the back of the napkin to full deployment they have a good approach. So, if you're not too technologically savvy or if you simply don't have the time to devote to developing an app yourself, give Twisted Castle a call and they'll deliver the app results you covet," says Lorenz.

Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with individuals and entrepreneurs to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz has handled public relations and marketing for numerous iPhone App developers, authors, doctors, lawyers, inventors and entrepreneurs. His clients regularly attain thousands of downloads for their apps. Copyright (C) 2011 Westwind Communications. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

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Scott Lorenz
President
734-667-2090

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