Welcome to Mob4Hire!

Registration is free, and you can begin posting your projects immediately. There are no up front costs to gain access to our thousands of testers.

You have complete discretion to accept or reject any bids submitted by testers, so it gives you a chance to "test the testing community."

Test independently or in conjunction with
your existing in house and/or 3rd party test processes.

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Good test plans lead to success

The Mob4Hire testing community has been used for a large variety of tests (application, Mobile 2.0, SMS and MMS testing, market research surveys). One thing we noticed is that the better the test plan, the better the results. Here's some tips to making your test plans better:

1. Give details of exactly you want to have the tester do; installation instructions, registering needs on your system, etc...
2. Be explicit in what you are expecting from them (a report, a picture, an email).
3. Tell the user how much time it will probably take.
4. Describe how much data will be sent and received during test (so they can bid appropriately to cover their data costs in their country).
5. Describe your expected and intended results of the tests
6. Ask for usability feedback ... how did they like that feature? What can you improve?

There are some other great test plan tips available to look through when you post your project on the Mob4Hire site.

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Is mobile fragmentation going to go away and make things easier for mobile application developers?

 

All mobile applications need testing

As a mobile application developer, you know how tough it is to do testing in today’s fragmented mobile industry; there’s 25 different operating systems and browsers on 15,000 different handsets on over 750 carriers worldwide for you to think about.

Mobile application testing can be expensive and time-consuming, especially if you’re buying a lot of (quickly outdated) handsets, subscribing to many different carriers or flying developers to test in other countries.

Some estimates say that it costs $4000 per handset to test.

Mob4Hire can deliver test results for 1/10th the cost over traditional methods!*

Not to mention that finding testers can be a slow or impossible process. Our community is open 24/7, and offers accelerated results: Mob4Hire’s turnaround time can be 80% faster than your existing processes*

And, Mob4Hire is great for getting feedback from real people using your apps. So you can ask them if they like things or if something sounds good or get them to move around to test your location based service (LBS) app.

“I hate trying to recruit test users, especially testers with a specific phone model. Mob4Hire gives me easy access to a large international group of potential testers, many of whom are expert phone users or experienced testers.” ... Happy Mob4Hire Developer

A video walkthrough

Mob4Hire CTO, John Carpenter put this video together for developers who wanted to know how to post mobile projects and use Mob4Hire as a testing tool. It's a great walkthrough of how our our system works ... sometimes hard to see the screen text, but useful none-the-less.

Mob4Hire Developer Walkthough from John Carpenter on Vimeo.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does Mob4Hire do what it does? Mob4Hire’s mandate is to simplify the testing process for new mobile applications. By providing access to a pool of testers around the world who use their own handsets and network time, Mob4Hire gives application developers a competitive advantage over those who rely on the old “travel and test” process. With Mob4Hire, mobile application developers can prepare their products for global markets without leaving home.
   
   
2. How do I register? Register at Mob4Hire.com. Registration is free, and you can begin posting your projects immediately. There are no up front costs to gain access to our thousands of testers.
   
   
3. How much does an average test cost? Because Mob4Hire uses a bidding process, there really is no average cost. Testers will send bids based on how long they think it will take to conduct the test, and what, if any, download costs are included. A simple ping test will clearly be less than something requiring more effort. We suggest you post a project and watch the bids come in; you have no obligation to accept a bid, but you will likely see the advantage of using Mob4Hire for your testing requirements.
   
   
4. How do I pay the tester? All payments are handled through PayPal. www.paypal.com In order to accept a bid and begin a testing project, your funds must be received by Mob4Hire. Once the tester sends the results, those funds will be automatically released to the tester within five days.
   
   
5. What if I am unhappy with the results of the test? The five day period gives you time to review and reject the results – in which case you would contact Mob4Hire and we will mediate between the two parties.
   
   
6. Why is there a bidding system? Bidding enables the market to set the price, and allows for fluctuation amongst global labour markets and download rates. It is truly the backbone of any crowd-sourcing process. And remember, you are under no obligation to accept a bid if you think you can get the work done for a better price.
   
   
7. How does Mob4Hire monitor quality? Developers rate each tester, on a scale of one to five, after every project is finished. The rating system quickly reveals who provides the best service. Also, if the quality is lacking in a specific project, you are able to reject the results within five days. Mob4Hire also has numerous professional testing houses registered on the system. They are designated by a MobPro logo beside their name.
   
   
8. How can I ensure confidentiality? You can request that the tester sign the same non-disclosure agreement you would use with any other outside consultant.
   
   
9. How can I use Mob4Hire for market research purposes? Mob4Hire testers are often mobile-savvy early adopters. They are an ideal source for input on your application. You can post a marketing survey just as you would post a project on Mob4Hire, and gain insight on whether or not they would use your application, their opinion on the user interface, what they might be willing to pay for the application, and much more. As with any Mob4Hire project, you can accept as many bids as you want; this is a fast and inexpensive way to conduct market research.
   
   
10. What if I have to communicate with the tester? Each project has its own forum hosted on the Mob4Hire site where developers and testers can communicate. These are private forums available only to the developer and the selected testers.
    
    
11. What if I want to hire the tester directly? That would be considered a violation of your agreement with Mob4Hire and you would be removed as a developer on our system.
    
    
12. What is MobPro? MobPro is a designation for a professional tester. This could be a large testing house that is using Mob4Hire as a marketing arm, or it could be a mobile developer with their own in-house testing department that would like to make additional revenue by utilizing the considerable investment that they have put into their handset inventory. If you would like to become a MobPro tester please email us at info@mob4hire.com and we will help you on your way!

What are some of the Developers in the Mob4Hire community saying?

“I hate trying to recruit test users, especially testers with a specific phone model. Mob4Hire gives me easy access to a large international group of potential testers, many of whom are expert phone users or experienced testers.”

“I am able to outsource part of our internal QA function, and test different locales”

“I like the way the installer files are SMSed to test participants.”

“Overall I found the testers to be of reasonable quality for the money spent. There is value in using the service.”

“Excellent opportunity to obtain international participants for prototype evaluation and research purposes.”

Some Sample Mobile Tests Projects at Mob4Hire:

• An Irish Mobile 2.0 firm needed to test it’s web app on the default browser on 163 handsets in Asian/Asia Pacific countries.
• A Russian mobile developer needed to test it’s innovative contact-dialer with Nokia phones in Finland and Sweden.
• A developer in South Africa needed to test a JavaME app that allows users to geotag photo’s, video’s and sound recordings. They tested in 15 countries.
• A mobile games developer in Ireland was looking to test on J2ME capable phones (Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, RIM and Samsung; all tests in India)
• A German developer needed one person in India to generate 50 page impressions & 25 clicks
• A Vancouver firm tested sending SMS messages to 25 countries and then getting verification that they were received or not
• What do YOU need to test?