I'm new to the whole mobile app side of things as I normally have my websites developed for use with mobile web. My question is, what is the rough going price for a mobile app? I have a social network in development at the minute and will be launched later this year but for the basics of a social network what would a rough price be for a mobile app?
That depends on the app. Prices run from free on up. You don't need an app for a social networking site - it should be accessible by browser, which phones have. If you want one specifically to access your site, the price would depend on the complexity (IOW the amount of work needed to create it). At any rate, it's probably going to be a lot more expensive than you think it will be. (People who don't actually develop programs have no idea how much work is involved, and usually underestimate it by 10-1,000 times.)
I understand what you are saying and I do agree. My website isn't mobile friendly at the moment and creating a mobile friendly site is on my list but eventually I will need an app - specially if I really want to havs a go at competing with the big boys. I was rxpecting an app to be around 1k but is that under estimating?
1k? That depends on the app. Microsoft Access is an app, and you couldn't get it developed for $1k - or $1 million. But there are Android apps you could get developed for a few hundred. "An app" is too general to put a price on - it's like asking how much a house costs, or how much food costs. Filet mingon for 500 or a hot dog for one?
The average price for a mobile phone app. is US$6,6667. To spend any more money on an app is risky, because mobile apps are mostly used to get customers in spending money some other way.