ericb@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Eric J. Bivona) (02/05/88)
Here it is, a summary of the response to my friend's question about
Apple's Developer status:
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Thank you to everyone who replied to my query concerning Developer status
at Apple. Here is a list of the non-"forward anything interesting that you
get to me" replies for the people who sent in "forward anything ....".
It looks as if you already have to be someone to get Developer status, or
at least have a very strong plan for becoming someone. Consultant's don't
cut it, you have to be developing products. It's sort of tempting to try
and put together a nationwide group of conultants under one title and use
that group to buy stuff for all of the rest of us. Hmmm. Tempting thought.
-David Channing (c/o Eric Bivona)
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First off: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL APPLE COMPANY POLICY
I am in engineering, and as such do not interact with the people who
make decisions about developers. I helped several of my friends fill
out their applications before I was hired at Apple.
>From what little I know about developer status, it refers to
"Developer of Applications software" (In general) Therefore, what
is desired on a business plan is a statement of what sort of programs
and such you intend to write. Once again, in general, developers write
software with intent to market same, but "developer" might also refer to
people who write specific software for specific purposes, for a cash fee.
Developer does not refer to people who do DTP as their only line of
business.
I suggest simply stating in your "business plan" the kind of stuff you
do and let Apple decide if "they" would call you a "developer" or not.
Do so in an honest and straightforward manner, basically just saying
what you intend to do once you have "achived" the status of developer.
Sort of like on a resume, "What is your lifetime goal?". Should be
easy, right? :-)
Tom Dowdy CSNET: dowdy@apple.CSNET
Apple Computer MS:27Y AppleLink:DOWDY1
20525 Mariani Ave UUCP: {sun,voder,amdahl,decwrl}!apple!dowdy
Cupertino, CA 95014
"The 'Oo-Ah' Bird is so called because it lays square eggs."
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I have had the same problem with Apple about developer status. The woman
who I talked to at Apple said that unless I had some published software,
I could forget about developer status. I thought this was rather a rude
comment and a pretty backward outlook on the part of Apple itself. If the
only people Apple is going to encourage to be developers are those that
already have a product out on the market, then I don't see many people
off the ground anytime soon with Apple's help. Anyway, I would appreciate
being forwarded any advice you get, because I am trying to write a math
equation solver/grapher combination technical word processor and have no
idea what Apple is looking for when it is talking about "proposed plan
of distribution."
Thanks in advance,
David
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The developer status is, as you suggest, primarily for those who are
developing new products for the Macintosh. Hence you want to concentrat
your bussiness plan on those things which you might either publish or
sell. These can be either general tools (word processors, spread
sheets,etc) or vertical market packages (lawyers offices, etc.). But
the key is that you plan to sell several of them. It doesn't need to
be a large amount of sales, my plan showed only $80,000 sales in the
first year (but of course according to the plan I'm 6 months behind :-)).
My plan wasn't long but you do need to answer all the questions in section
C (the one on marketing) in the plan, including issues of marketing,
support, yearly sales, etc. It doesn't have to be long (mine was 6 pages
or so), but do make it look nice (use a Mac word processor). Pick up
a book or two on forming a small bussiness, as they will usually have
sample bussiness plans you can follow for format.
The general format I used was
Overview - A description of the company, the goals and the product(s)
Product - A description of the product itself
Market - Support issues, marketing (how you plan to sell it) and the
competition
Finacial - Financing, two-year sales forcasts, two-year company finaicials
These should look realistic, even if you know they have no
basis in reality. In other words, put down what you think
you can do in terms of sales.
I set mine up as if I were going to setup a company myself to publish the
software. My plans have since changed, I'm now looking for a publisher,
but the plan is still there and is mostly usable if I do go back.
Good Luck,
Jerry Whitnell
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Dear Eric,
I just saw your letter posted on the net. I too called Apple about
becoming about a Certified Apple Developer. I'll gladly share my
experience with you.
I recently started a company called Pulse Consulting Services. This
company has a small staff of what I feel to be good, creative programmers.
We at Pulse thought it would be beneficial for us to become a Certified
Developer because of the hardware and software support.
The process started in October when I called Apple. They very quickly
responded with the same form that I assume you received. I completed it,
simply filling out the form, and I thought that there would be no problem.
I sent in the form and after three weeks of waiting Apple returned
the application and a form letter stating that we would have to include a
business plan to gain approval.
To answer your question, a business plan is easy enough to create. I can
get my hands on a sample business plan to follow if you wish one. The
problem lies not with the plan but with Apple's philosophy. No doubt
you saw the form's section stating the nature of your program and that
a completed program must be market-ready in 18 months. This isn't bad
if you have a staff and a couple man-years to squeeze into 18 months but
it's not the best of news for someone like yourself. Pulse is in the
process of writing a business plan for Apple and that we intend to send
it and hope for the best.
All I can say for you is that Apple will surely know where you are coming
from (I can easily find out the nature of any said company). Apple can
surely determine how long you've been in business if you're a legitimate
company. When I was in similar positions in the past I found that honesty
is the best policy and it's the best in this situation too. Tell Apple
your position, what 18 months isn't feasible (if the time is enough then
don't state it) and that Apple's support will help you produce code that
will accent Apple computers.
Lastly, Apple seemed concerned that their potential developers be
responsible with their sources, concerned about the result of the program,
the marketing approaches and the end-user support. If you are a serious
programmer (which I'm assured that you are) you won't have any problems
with the first two. If you have any problems with the second two please
don't hesitate to write me; I'd be more then glad to help and I can safely
say that Pulse might be interested too if you're interested.
-Eric Alessi alessi@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu
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I became a Certified Developer by sending in the documentation for a piece of
freeware I wrote (Tiler 1.5, plug, plug) and an advertising blurb for the
product I was consulting on at the time. They seemed to like it.
- Walt