I have an idea for an app that curiously, do not have a competition. It is specific for vivoactive watch. Can anyone tell me what are the possibilities to develop this app? what are the necessary steps? how much of an investment could be? what is the average cost of app dev for this watch? Are there companies that can work this specific hardware? Does Garmin get involve or developers need to develop themselves? Thanks
I think it would help if you gave a brief description of what you want, as it could be something that someone is already working on, or it could be something that can't be done.
CIQ stuff is generally built by 3rd party folks that build stuff that interests them, and don't do anything like contract work to develop them. (everything in the app store is free).
Well the idea is unique and that is why I am looking for a dveloper who can show me the work s/he has done with tangible samples. There is nothing in the app store close to this idea. Like I said, it needs to be for vivoactive watch which uses GPS. So the app will use the gps data and will add some features targeted to the specific sport. The goal is to monetize it. Now are you suggesting that there is no $$$ opportunities here because there are available free?
Can anyone tell me what are the possibilities to develop this app?
You can develop it yourself, or you can get someone else to develop it. They might help you out of the kindness of their heart, they might ask that you pay them up front, or they might ask that they get a portion of the proceeds.
The whole monetization issue was discussed in this thread. I *believe* Garmin has said that monetization is acceptable, but you can't advertise on their platform. It is on developers to provide the infrastructure (payment processing, authorization, ...), which makes these types of projects outside of what most of us are looking to take on.
what are the necessary steps?
Just a rough outline...
Find someone to develop the software, get them to sign an NDA if necessary.
Provide/discuss requirement specifications for the project.
Come to an agreement with the developer about how they will be paid for their time. This may involve a contract.
Provide/discuss some milestones and dates so you can be sure the project is moving forward.
Check in to ensure that milestones are being met.
how much of an investment could be?
It depends on who you are dealing with or what you are asking for. If it is an interesting project and you find the right person, they might develop it for free or maybe for some stake in the resulting product. On the other hand, you could end up paying hundreds of dollars an hour for many hours.
what is the average cost of app dev for this watch?
It depends on the scale. If you just want a simple app, then it might be a few hours of work. If you want something more complicated, maybe something that requires a custom web service or a companion app, it may take a few days of design/prototyping, and then weeks to develop and debug.
Are there companies that can work this specific hardware?
I'm not sure I understand this question. The ConnectIQ framework runs on Garmin devices and in the simulator that is provided as part of their SDK. For the most part development is not really hardware specific since the code is written to work with the framework, and the framework abstracts away most of the device-specific details where possible.
Does Garmin get involve or developers need to develop themselves? Thanks
It appears that there are some guys at Garmin that are developing apps. If you look in the store, you can see the ones that have been developed by Garmin, and there are a few apps (mostly watch faces) that are provided independently by guys that work for Garmin.
For the most part they provide support for app developers where needed. I'm guessing that if there was an idea that was good enough that it would cover the cost of one of their full-time developers and got lots of positive exposure for the platform, they might consider developing the app themselves. Otherwise, they'd probably try to help you to find someone to develop the app.
I do contract work in this area, so I could be a resource.
