I currently manage a website design and development company that integrates itself with print work too. I've been co manager for a couple of months now, however business is slow at the moment.

I got an email today from a potential client asking if we do iPhone app development. Obviously we do not. But, seeing as there aren't many other project on the go at the moment, why not give it a go?

Searching Google was my first option. I did a bit of background scrubbing. Discovered that I need certain developer tools etc. This can be arranged easily enough. The reason I came to Stack Exchange is for answers to these questions.

I am a competant programmer and have had experience in Java, PHP, JavaScript, C++ and C#. So how long would it take me to come to grips with Objective-C? Assuming an 8 hour working day.

Not only the language but also the iPhone interface libraries (if any exist) and other native libraries?

The potential client said the app will be a catalogue. So I'm assuming either the data will be pulled online or in some kind of local database. I know the requirements are vague but does anyone have any idea of how mug time this would take? To learn the language, design the architecture and code? 40 Hours? 80 Hours?

My final question kind of depends on the first two. But obviously the potential client wants a quote. And I have got no idea how much an app costs. I did some research and found a huge range in differences. The majority of the cost would cone from the time to develops the app!

So to summarise.

• How long would it take me to be comfortable coding Objective-C, taking into consideration my past knowledge? I'm assuming a day or two to fully understand but you really don't know.
• How long would it take me to develop an app?
• How much should I charge (approx) for the development of this app?