Check out the source article and then read through the Hacker News comments. iOS development pricing has always been a tricky question to answer, as no number I can give is low enough for what most people expect. This breakdown by one of the Twitterific developers provides detailed insight into my daily responsibilities.

The app we’re working on right now required a new backend to sort database backed assets into workable maps in memory in order to provide quick response to http queries. These queries return json payloads which then have to be parsed by the iOS app, stored in CoreData and kept in sync with the user interface. The end result is an always up to date view into the client’s catalog, and on the surface it seems like it is a simple loop that is assigning values to an UI element, but building all the scaffolding that makes sure those bits are available in memory for the iOS app takes dozens of hours of backend development and API design.