Technology iPhone App Programming HELP!

[Chocolate Bear]

Anybody have advice for a n00b looking to create a (?)simple(?) iPhone app involving the following steps leading to a numerical result?

1. Choose from a list of categories. Choice will dictate choices for next step.
2. Check boxes indicating which criteria match the current situation. Ex: There might be 10 choices, and a letter grade will result based on how many you select: 1-4 of 10 = C, 5-7 = B, 8-10 = A. Basically, the more criteria you match, the better your grade. The resulting letter grade will change the formula used in the final calculation.
3. Enter several numerical choices, which will be used in final calculation.
4. Output of calculation based on a relatively simple formula that corresponds to each letter grade. Formula may also need to be dependent on category chosen from step (1), if possible.

It doesn't have to look pretty graphically, as long as it works. But I really don't have hundreds of hours to spend on this, so I'd like some help finding the best ways to learn how to do this.

I have no real programming experience.
Are there other programmable apps in the App Store that I could just program to do this for me?
Do I have to publish this to iTunes if I don't have an unlocked iPhone?
If they reject my app, does that mean I can't use it on my own unlocked phone?
I don't want to market or sell this. It's for a very small group of people.
How many hours would this take?
How much would it cost to have someone else do this?

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[StatCoder]

Right now, the iPhone SDK is the only tool you can use to write iPhone OS apps. I'm sure there are exceptions to this, however, none are in use commonly, especially for non-jailbroken devices. The learning curve for the iPhone SDK is pretty steep, even for an experienced programmer.

That leaves you with the option of paying a programmer to do it. This would probably be cost prohibitive if you are only considering distribution to a dozen or so users. Even the maintenance of that kind of app is harder than you might imagine because people change devices and have other software problems. Apps also need to be updated on a regular basis.

It sounds like you would be better served developing a web app. That is, create a web page formatted for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad that does the relatively simple calculation that you. Finding someone that can do web design is much easier than finding an iPhone developer. This kind of project sounds like a perfect high-school or entry-level project for someone who is taking a class in web development. I'll be if you look in the right places, you could find someone who is willing to build the web app for you free of charge as a school project.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Thanks a lot for the help, StatCoder