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I’m almost ready to offer an IPhone application on the Apple App. Store and make my millions. ;)

For those of you that have gone before, have you formed a business (LLC or proprietorship) to keep things legal?

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closed as off topic by Bobrovsky, Tim Cooper, rene, Ted Hopp, Darren Davies Oct 21 '12 at 15:26


4 Answers 4

up vote 2 down vote accepted

In the end, it really depends on your plans for your app development. If you're intending to make this a "real" business you'd absolutely want to incorporate for the legal protection and tax advantages. If this is just a hobby/something you're doing in your spare time then I wouldn't bother.

We've used LegalZoom a couple of times to incorporate; plan to spend <= $2K or so to get it done from soup-to-nuts.

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+1 - My thoughts exactly. –  Mat Nadrofsky Jun 1 '09 at 12:06

I would say that depends largely on the nature of your application. If your app deals with personal information or in some way could damage other data or information on the phone itself, you might want to make sure you're covered liability wise.

If it's a game or something that won't (shouldn't) affect that type of thing, then you might be just fine going it alone.

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Of course we all know how software works. Sometimes code that isn't supposed to affect a disparate part of the system does. It's about your comfort level with this being the case. –  Mat Nadrofsky May 31 '09 at 23:55
Of course, even if you have an LLC, you can still be sued. –  Nosredna Jun 1 '09 at 0:22
Absolutely. Just affects your liability and what they can take from your cold dead hands. :) –  Mat Nadrofsky Jun 1 '09 at 12:06

I used my name. At the time I signed up, I was hearing horror stories about how long it was taking companies to be approved, while approval for individuals was flying through. Perhaps that's changed.

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Don't assume that incorporating will protect you from liability. See here

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Some protection (like an LLC) is often time better than none. –  amattn Jun 1 '09 at 2:09
Thats slightly misleading - it will protect you many types of liability. Just not all types. –  RichH Sep 16 '09 at 1:19
