Order of Magnitude Cost to Ship an iOS Bluetooth Accessory

Question

This is a request for guidance regarding Bluetooth accessory development for iOS devices.

Publicly available documentation/discussion seems limited; I assume this is due to the MFI NDA.

And I didn't find the quantity/variety of iOS Bluetooth accessories I'd expect if accessory development was as accessible as iOS development in general. So I assume there is substantial overhead in shipping MFI accesories.

My question is: what was the magnitude of overhead to get your first MFI accesory prototype shipped (MFI fees, legal, dev hardware, etc)? I'm looking for the accessory-specific component of costs, so above and beyond the normal iOS software development work.

$1,000?
$10,000?
$100,000?

If NDAs preclude answering, perhaps you could offer guidance about where I can ask general questions like this (DTS ticket?) prior to incurring MFI enrollment expenses.

Obreption

I somehow suspect (proportion of coders who are iPhone coders) ~= (proportion of hardware developers who are MFi developers), certainly when you factor in the extra barriers to entry (you can't get stuff running in the simulator for free). – Grayling

This isn't really a programming question, but one about hardware and general business costs, so it is not appropriate for Stack Overflow. And, yes, many of the things you are curious about are under NDA, so I suggest asking at Apple's development forums at devforums.apple.com – Americana

Thanks for responding Brad. The MFI NDA precludes useful discussion on the non-MFI devforums as well. The subject involves dollars and hardware, but the issue is one that any developer will encounter when he starts looking into ExternalAccessory framework, etc. Since Stack Overflow is where developers will ask "How do I build Bluetooth accessories for iOS?", I think it is also the correct place to have an answer that says "you start by setting aside $x for fees and lawyers, then you can learn how". – Obreption

I asked for an order of magnitude dollar value because I hoped it was ambiguous enough to avoid NDA problems while giving me enough info to inform a business decision. But it sounds like the answer is that there's no way to learn more about the software and pricing without incurring whatever the MFI signup costs are. – Obreption

@Matt - I have seen some discussion of the accessory development process in the Apple forums, which have been considered inside other NDAs. I can safely say that you'll get a good idea of the costs involved by starting the application process and talking with the MFi people at Apple. It will be project-dependent, as well as relying on the size of your team, so any costs will be subjective. Also, the program has changed some significant aspects over time, so it's also a moving target. – Americana

Surely someone who's not under NDA knows someone who spilled the beans? – Ohara

Answer 1

Building iPhone OS Accessories by Ken Maskrey is a good read and probably the most detailed account of the MFi program you'll get outside of the NDA. It answers most of the questions you've posed.

Belshazzar

For anyone looking for the answer to my original question, Brad Larson's comment above is the best info for the MFI costs: it varies, and the only way to learn about it is to enroll. – Obreption

The Maskrey book provides useful anecdotes re the cost differences you can see based on implementation decisions. Again, a huge range based on your project considerations, but it sounds like the non-MFI costs to get to your prototype are the $1,000 or $10,000 magnitudes, not $100,000. – Obreption

Answer 2

Update for this:

CoreBluetooth is a new public framework in iOS 5; no MFI required: http://lists.apple.com/archives/bluetooth-dev/2011/Nov/msg00001.html

Note that CoreBluetooth is just for Bluetooth Low Energy, the old BT stuff covered by the MFI still appears to be restricted. The only iOS device shipping with BLE support is the iPhone 4S.

For a working iOS implementation (and hardware dev kit): http://www.ti.com/tool/ble-stack

Obreption

Answer 3

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I am developing a BT MFi accesory, and I'd say the cost is at least 10,000$ to get a prototype. Also, there is only one solution available, from CSR (Cambridge Silicon Radio) and support is very limited regarding BLuetooth. It costs an extra 3,000$ to get full Bluetooth support, so unless you know what you're doing, it will cost A LOT.

Plus, there are the license fees, the royalties, and so on, when you sell the product.

On the news side of things, Apple has recognized this BT accesory thing is not working that well for them, so they are almost dropping the royalty fee! However, that is not my job - I'm an engineer.

PS: I am open to private messages on this issue ;)

Pusillanimity

How long did your MFi approval take? – Photoelectric

We did it in China through our hw vendor. It wasn't going anywhere until we complained to Apple about the MFi guy in China. He was probably expecting bribes... – Pusillanimity