asas111 - 3:35 pm on Sep 20, 2010 (gmt 0)

I have come up with a very cool and revolutionary way for people to communicate with companies and other businesses, even if you don't have their contact information.

I am looking to get my idea to one of the big mobile/browser companies (Blackberry, Google or Microsoft). As such, can someone help me with these questions please:



1-Do I have to patent my idea before presenting it to them? Patenting cost a lot and I don't have that much money.

2-Would the big companies buy my idea just like this, without a working prototype or any avaialble code? In other words, I have the idea and how it is supposed to work, but I don't have the programming knowledge to work on it. And frankly, although the final product is very simple to use and understand, building it will require some effort and technical assets.

3-What is the best way to check if my idea already existed and commercialized?

4-While I am not dreaming of becoming rich off this, if the big companies like this idea, should I expect a good payout from them just for an idea and no final product?


Thanks a lot