The popularity of Apple's iPhone and its elegant interface and innovative multi-touch screen has led to a paradigm shift in software development. The relevance of desktop applications has waned throughout the last decade, and with more and more people surfing the web on mobile devices, even web development has changed to meet the needs of the mobile browser.
The world of mobile programming will soon be dominated by three major development platforms. Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Google's Android, and of course Apple's Cocoa Touch, which is the application framework for their iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices. This article focuses on which steps to take to become an iPhone and iPad Developer.
Four Steps to Becoming an iPhone and iPad Programmer
- Buy a Mac. Even though third-party software makes it possible to develop in both Java (Javaground's UniWar is an example of a multi-platform mobile app ported to the iPhone) and C# (Novell's MonoTouch runtime) and port those apps to the iPhone platform, for the best performance, development should happen on a Mac, be written in Apple's Objective-C language, and directly target the Cocoa Touch framework.
- Join Apple's iPhone Development Program. For the yearly price of $99 ($299 for Enterprise Developers), programmers get the iPhone SDK, Xcode (Apple's IDE), various tools for profiling mobile apps, and a interface designer. There is also a robust amount of online tutorial videos and documentation along with an active forum well-supported by Apple's engineers.
- Write and Test, Write and Test. Xcode provides a robust development environment for writing Objective-C code for the iPhone. It also provides instrumentation and profiling tools to track real-time application performance info. It is also possible to test the app over WiFi to get a proper feel for performance in the real world.
- Sell it at the App Store. The App Store is arguably the most innovative part of the iPhone development experience. Apple allows developers to set their own price for an app and takes 30% of the sale price as their cut; they take zero if the app is free. Members of the Enterprise Development program can deploy their app to any authorized user in their company. Finally, through Ad Hoc distribution, it is possible to deploy an app through email to up to 100 users, which is perfect to test out a new app among friends and family before releasing it on the App Store.
Apple makes it easy for developers to both learn iPhone and iPad Development and to sell their programs at the App Store. Comparing the $99 price for their iPhone Development program against Microsoft's prices for their Visual Studio IDE (the Professional Edition starts around $800) and considering the coolness factor of the iPhone and iPad, it's no surprise that more and more developers are moving away from Redmond and moving towards Cupertino.
Paul Williams - Paul Williams' unique set of experiences allow him to communicate complex issues in a clear manner, yet still be an entertaining read.
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