Page 484 - Using MIS

452 Chapter 11 Information Systems Management

11-9. Calculate the monthly cost, in watts, if: 11-10. Given your answers to items 11-4 – 11-9, is computer
a. All user computers run full time night and day. power management during off-hours a significant con-
b. All user computers run full time during work hours cern? In comparison to the other costs of running a
and in sleep mode during off-hours. university, does this issue really matter? Discuss this
c. All user computers are shut off during nonwork question among your group and explain your answer.
hours.

CaSe Study 11

iApp$$$$ 4 U

Let’s suppose that you have a great idea for an iOS application. develop at least the skeleton of a test plan. You might also per-
It doesn’t matter what it is; it could be something to make life form some of the testing tasks yourself.
easier for college students or your parents or something to If you have, let’s round up, say $30,000 that you’re will-
track healthcare expenses and payments for your grandpar- ing to invest, then you could outsource the development to a
ents. Whatever it is, let’s assume that the idea is a great one. developer in the United States. If not, you have two other pos-
First, what is the value of that idea? According to Raven sible choices: outsource offshore or hire a computer science
Zachary, writing on the O’Reilly blog, it is zero. 4 student. Elance is a clearinghouse for development experts;
Nada. According to Zachary, no professional iPhone devel- it lists developers, their locations, typical costs, and ratings
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oper (he wrote this in 2008 about iPhone apps) will take equity provided by previous customers. As you can see, you can hire
or the promise of future revenue sharing in exchange for cash. developers in India, Russia, the Ukraine, Romania, and other
There is too much cash-paying work. And ideas are only as countries. Costs start at $2,000 for a simple app, but again,
good as their implementation, a fact that is true for every busi- that estimate does not include costs for design, graphics, and
ness project, not just iOS applications. project management—nor the costs you will incur getting your
So, how can you go about getting your iOS application de- application into the App Store.
veloped? You have three basic choices. You can go to a profes- What about hiring a local computer science student? The
sional developer, one with a series of successes behind it. It price might be right, certainly far less than a professional
will provide developers, designers, and project management. developer, but this alternative is fraught with problems. First,
The cost depends, of course, on the requirements of your app, good students are in high demand, and, second, good students
but according to Ryan Matzner, who manages fueled.com, a are, well, students. They need to study and don’t have as much
typical mobile commerce application will cost between $120K time to devote to your app. And, hard as it is to believe, some
to $150K. 5 students are flakes. However, if you have a friend whom you
If that’s too high, your choices are either to attempt to do trust, you might make this option work.
some of the work yourself, perhaps by managing an offshore One other option is to divide and conquer. Break your really
developer, or to reduce your requirements. If you choose the great idea up into smaller apps. Pick one that is sure to be a hit,
former, you’re engaging in a risky endeavor. and sell it cheaply, say for $.99. Use the money that you earn
First, do as much work as you can. Read the stages in the from that application to fund the next application, one that you
systems development life cycle in Chapter 12. Determine how might sell for more.
many of those stages you can do yourself. Unless you are al-
ready a skilled object-oriented programmer and comfortable Questions
writing in Objective-C or Apple’s new language Swift, you
cannot do the coding yourself. You might, however, be able to 11-11. What characteristics make a mobile application great?
reduce development costs if you design the user interface and Describe at least five characteristics that compel you to
specify the ways that your users will employ it. You can also buy applications. What characteristics would make an

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Raven Zachary, “Turning Ideas into iPhone Applications,” O’Reilly Media, last modified November 21, 2008, http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/11/
turning-ideas-into-application.html.
5 Mary Hurd, "How Much Does It Cost to Develop an App?," Fueled.com, October 31, 2013, accessed June 10, 2014, http://fueled.com/blog/
how-much-does-it-cost-to-develop-an-app.
6 “iPhone Development Experts Group,” Elance, accessed August 6, 2013, www.elance.com/groups/iPhone_Development_Experts.