Innovation in Software

One of the problems I sometimes have when heading up a developer team is just getting the right kit in the right hands. I have a project now where I need to get an iPhone and a Blackberry 8900 Curve to a developer, but we’re blocked.

I speak to teams occasionally that need to get iPhones to developers but don’t want to take on contracts, nor do they want the devices locked to O2 for ever more (or even in the first place). You can buy them online, but at around £650 for each 32GB 3GS, kitting out at a team of just a few developers can be painfully expensive.

Sometimes I’ll see a team come together that needs a pile of development kit just for a couple of months to see a project through. I’ve even heard of one team buy half a dozen Mac Minis at the start of a project, bill it to the client, and then come the end of the project they had no use for the machines any more. Talk about waste!

The logistics of this stuff is scary. Managing cashflow, sourcing equipment, it all just takes time.

When I see something that is taking a developer away from getting product shipped, I wonder to myself “isn’t there a better way?”. And tonight, I realised when it comes to sourcing hardware and software for development teams, there is. Vagueware could, if people wanted, help.

We can source kit, (including legitimate and factory-fresh unlocked and SIM free iPhones), for considerably less than you can pick the same equipment up for on the high street or eBay. Need 20 machines by Monday? With Photoshop installed on 5 of them? And XCode or Visual Studio ready to roll on the rest? We could do that, quite easily thanks to knowing enough guys on the wholesale side of the hardware business.

In essence, I’m thinking about offering hardware/software bundles for developers – custom packages, tailored for projects – priced at wholesale prices. Even renting out kit if that’s what people need.

I’m just floating this as an idea right now, if the feedback is good, I’ll look into making it happen.