1 FREE iPad in UAE!

[uSheep]

Are there or aren't there any iPhone developers in the UAE?

If you are in the UAE and have personally coded an iPhone application (whether for your company or as an individual), post your link to your AppStore page here, I'm sure we'd all love to see them.

Know an iPhone developer in the UAE? Please do post a link to their websites, or refer them by private message, they'll appreciate the exposure.

I sometimes have a simple couple-of-days project that needs help from a UAE based iPhone SDK developer, for which I'll gift back an iPad.

[hakka]

There ARE iPhone developers in UAE, but what is your offer? Or you really think that anybody will buy this B/S about ipad? iPad estimated price is aprox 499 USD for couple of days project way too high. That makes 32 USD/hour. For that money u can EASILY get people on oDesk, eLance, rentacoder etc etc. So I think your offer is NOT genuine or spam even....

[uSheep]

I was hoping this offer didn't sound too good to be true and scare people off Hakka; it turns out that's exactly what's happening. Thank you for bringing this up so we can make things clear. Well, I thought if I was going to pick up an iPad myself when they came out, why not get another one for someone who'll be into them as much as I am and we can develop apps together. This free iPad isn't like you give me X work, I give you Y iPad -- otherwise of course I'd have outsourced outside the country. You know in our Arabic culture we're very generous and a lot of times business is done like lifelong unconditional friendship. An "I invite you to my house for a sumptious dinner then you invite me to yours back alternating indefinitely, not we keep going to lunch somewhere and splitting the bill and we're always even" kinda thing. The rationale is: if you do me a favor and help me with an iPhone idea now, and I "overthank" you with an iPad, then next month I need help with another iPhone idea, or this same iPhone app you helped me with turns out to need a recompile for something etc, you wouldn't think twice about that, right? That's not to say I'm going to milk a person for life with a measly iPad. It comes down to the person I gifted it to, to judge how much effort they still owe me, if any. I'm confident doing this because it'll be their loss if they take the iPad and disappear, as they'll be throwing away a far more rewarding long term relationship. My intent isn't bartering something equivalent to a specific value for intangible services, it is an invitation to collectively take on the risk of engaging in activities of intangible value, in which one of the guaranteed perks is an iPad.

There's also self-interest reasons of giving away that iPad to my partner in an app: if we develop an app together for the iPad not just iPhone, you will of course need a real iPad to do real-world testing on it as an emulator won't reveal all the bugs, right? And who do you think will be more motivated to persevere for a block-rockin' result without cutting corners, someone who'll be getting cash like any other job, or a spanking shiny iPad that'll be the envy of town? I sure would, and as a result of the work I too would be putting into the app I'm going to be the first to reward my own self with an iPad -- it's my carrot stick.

Also, if I offer cash, and there's an iPhone developer out there for whom it is a full-time role at a company, they may not want to collaborate as they'll be afraid it's a conflict of interest. And if their employer gets involved it gets in the way of individual freedom sometimes; it complexifies credit, creative control, and how easily you are able to get 3rd party resources, like permission to use someone else's code library or sound effect sample, etc, since it changes the type of commercial use if you are just a couple of folks trying to make a dime from a paid app, rather than the app being perceived as a promotion or advertising vehicle for a digital media firm. But maybe such a developer would see it's totally fine if they spent their own personal time/weekend helping me hack something up, and the iPad was just an unrelated gift from a friend. I'm sure they can get around any hesitation over using company equipment for personal jobs by maybe selling off that iPad and getting themselves their own Mac to put xCode on.

There are also a lot of downsides to outsourcing too, for example I find it hard to build trust in someone I don't know personally when it comes to my intellectual property/ideas (a lot of people have outsourced app development and found that after it is posted on the appstore, almost identical competing copies pop up from the same locale as their outsourcee), it's harder to communicate and share large files etc, and a lot less fun of course than the shared creative energy that comes out when sitting with someone likeminded face to face. Overall the whole process ends up actually taking longer and harder to manage. You have to fix a scope which, for the iPhone, for which outsourcees will naturally overestimate the effort required, and in the iPad's case, isn't even possible now since a lot of its workings aren't public yet so it's a learning experience for everyone. Working with a new true friend here in the UAE, you can cultivate that shared ownership of the app, not like a simple vendor.

There's also something about my belief in giving back to the community first, that I have learned to walk the talk rather than the charitable poker faces I've seen in my decade of business. If there are proven iPhone developers here, I want to reward them. If there aren't, I want this to be an incentive for someone to develop themselves in this direction. Maybe I am a "patron" of the iPhone development arts! It was a crazy idea offering a free iPad and that's why it can work, who knows, maybe everyone at Emirates Mac can one day join me by pitching in to keep giving away free iPads to top iPhone development talent in the country. That said, my purpose in life isn't to give away free iPads. Even with ever-giving Santa you'd need to prove you deserve it by doing your chores and writing him a letter telling him how badly you want it. So show it here! Besides, regardless of the free iPad, even if you want it or not, if you want to collaborate with me or not, I think it'll be healthy for you and for this forum if we have a thread like this to share with each other what we've done and what we're capable of.

Now I've laid out all my reasoning and motivations out in the open, so I hope it goes some way to lifting doubt about my character and spirit of transparency. If you want that iPad, and you should, then HEY! shout it out. If you want to work with me on stuff, but expect something else in return like payment, or nothing, etc... get in touch too... I always like to meet other geeks. Or don't get in touch at all and bury this thread. It's all good, as we're all here on this playground having taken a bite from the Apple.

[Magnus]

There's also something about my belief in giving back to the community first,

Sure, give the community an iPad first, then we'll figure out what we can do for you.... Kidding aside, how can the EmiratesMac.com community benefit from this, other than one person doing the app with you? Give an iPad to be raffled off among members? Give an iPad to someone who does some significant work for the community? Throw your ideas around ;-) As EMUG we have monthly meetings so there's plenty of chance to meet other geeks and Apple fans.

[uSheep]

Hey, stop hijacking my gift Magnus I have a better idea, how about giving away a free iPad to every EmiratesMac member?
Well I'm not so sure they would want it, given the zero interested iPhone developers (a subset of the EmiratesMac community I presume) PMing me or posting here. Maybe it's just because everyone is too busy or the mac community has been hating the iPad disappointment ever since it was announced...

Tell you what, I'll post again when our such app is on the App store, and gladly offer every EmiratesMac.com member and/or Shuffle Magazine reader a promo code to get it for free as a perk of membership. And to help us get there...... my current offer stands!*

* THE FINE PRINT: Until further notice of course that deserving guy/gal comes for that iPad first
Although if it was a gal I'd probably give her the iPad, iPhone, iPod, iCar, iHouse, and iDiamond Ring!!!!

P.S. I gladly RSVP to the next EmiratesMac meeting

[Magnus]

I have a better idea, how about giving away a free iPad to every EmiratesMac member?

Sure, you're more than welcome to. Drop them off to us and we'll make sure all the members get their iPad