Iphone app development

[ChrisOB1]

Sorry if this is a repost however we have a website we would like to make an app on iphone but do not know where to start. Our website has a suppliers directory of over 40,000 suppliers in the UK. Currently we cannot find another app that lets you search this on the iphone. So my questions are thus:

We do we find an app developer?
Any ideas on how much this would cost?

All feedback appreciated

many thanks

[spants]

Does it need to be an offline app? If not, use an iPhone friendly template-there are a few around

[off_again]

If you want to develop your own app then you need the developers pack to do this. I am lead to believe that its pretty easy to use and Apple have made available quite a lot of information to help you. I would also check out iTunes University for courses on app development. But this is if you need an app - otherwise just profile your website and let people use Safari.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/developing-apps-video/

http://developer.apple.com/programs/iphone/

Oh, and if you are distributing the app to a few people then you can do so for testing without having to use iTunes. But if you want to make it available to lots of people then iTunes is the way to go. If you make it available for free then its not too costly to do and quite a few companies are now doing this - though you would probably never know because the numbers are so small they never appear on the iTunes charts.