Choosing the right iPhone Developer Program

Question

I am writing an iPhone apps for in-house use. There is 4 of us in the project team. We need to deploy the application to around 20 iTouch devices via ad-hoc distribution mode and there is no intention to put the application in the App store.

The question is, should I go for the Standard Individual Program or the Standard Company Program?

Note: I am not asking to choose between Standard and Enterprise. Since I only need ad-hoc distribution and the application is running on only 20 devices, I believe the standard program should be good enough for this purpose. However, for the standard program, there is option for Standard Individual Program or the Standard Company Program.

Answer 1

Review the licenses for each program with your legal team if you have one. I believe you will need the corporate one.

Answer 2

revised response: This info is readily available on the iphone developer application page. Both accounts allow ad-hoc distribution. The enterprise program allows in-house distribution or proprietary apps for companies with 500 or more employees.

original response: You have to go for the corporate program. It's the only one that allows you to distribute apps within an organization as far as I know. The individual account is only for apps that you intend to sell in the app store.

Answer 3

If the company has less than 500 people, you don't mind a slightly more difficult distribution system, and the $200 difference is really important, than register with the standard program as a company. Otherwise, sign up for the enterprise program.

You should only register as an individual if the company does not own the software being distributed and doesn't want to own the software. Which I doubt is the case.

Answer 4

For any business with multiple users I would recommend getting a Corporate account. That way you can have a team leader, and separate account logins for each member of the team.

For a Corporate account you will need to provide a legal contact at your company who has authority to bind your company to the terms and conditions of the Apple agreement.

Check out my post here for a bit more detail about what you have to do, and how long it takes: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1876333/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-an-iphone-app-into-the-app-store-closed