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Why I develop for iOS

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Re: Why I develop for iOS

#21

Post by aphexairlines »

sanj wrote: post #16

This article raises a point about getting paid. I haven't seen any solid approaches (other than SaaS) about getting paid with HTML5 apps. Between your source (effectively) being available to the public and no clear way to do "mini" payment ($0.99), it limits what a indepedent developer could bootstrap with.

Regarding mini payments, what about Google Checkout for the chrome web store? If Checkout accounts are the same as Android Market accounts, you have lots of people with credit cards on file already for 1-click payments.

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#22

Post by bignoggins »

slowpoke wrote: post #12

You need to do memory management, need to work with design patterns, learn a new language, and more. While he does raise some valid points (with which I still disagree, but then again I wouldn't be caught dead on anything by Apple, so I'm biased too), this is plain and simply nonsense. Assuming someone knows neither Objective-C nor any language (including HTML) for web development, the learning curve is probably abou…

Can we all just agree that to be good at any technology, it is pretty darn hard? But I've done enterprise Java/.NET, web development,and iPhone development. If we are talking about what is easier for a beginner to pick up (some HTML/CSS/JS with something like Rails or Django backend), I would definitely recommend web development over Java/.NET/Obj-C.

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#23

Post by MrScruff »

slowpoke wrote: post #12

You need to do memory management, need to work with design patterns, learn a new language, and more. While he does raise some valid points (with which I still disagree, but then again I wouldn't be caught dead on anything by Apple, so I'm biased too), this is plain and simply nonsense. Assuming someone knows neither Objective-C nor any language (including HTML) for web development, the learning curve is probably abou…

It's considerably easier (IMO) to get started in web development than in iOS development. Web development has a fairly gentle learning curve and I personally know a bunch of people that started their careers hacking in php. iOS development has a gentle learning curve if you already know C, which even some CompSci graduates don't nowadays.

I don't think this was intended as a put down, it's just a fact that there are a ton of ways to put together a simple web app and some of them are very accessible.

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#24

Post by bignoggins »

> The iPhone and iPad are the high-end of the smartphones and tablets.

I don't think this is the reason that the app store prints money as much as the 300+ million credit cards that iTunes has.

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#25

Post by Steko »

econgeeker wrote: post #5

All good reasons. My reasons are: -- The Apple frameworks are first class. In the past 20 years, there has never been a set of GUI frameworks that I've seen that was anywhere near as good as things are in iOS right now. (I've not looked at android, but it being based on Java doesn't fill me with hope. A lot of what makes CocoaTouch work so well is due to Objective-C.) -- You can write an app once and have it run on i…

I think you're prolly selling Android short and leaving money on the table in the process. All reports are that most code is fairly quick to port and the sheer number of phones is hard to ignore, even if many of them aren't app shoppers, there's still many many many that are and the app store will iterate quickly. Chrome sucked too at 1.0.

If you don't want to deal with the backend on Android there are solutions that shouldn't be all that different from Apple's 30% cut.

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#26

Post by ashconnor »

bignoggins wrote: post #14

Disclaimer: I'm a full time indie iphone developer. I'm an iOS developer for one reason: it is the best platform if you want to start your own business and keep writing CODE. Apple takes care of distribution, payments, marketing (via features and top lists), and some legal issues (you get a default ToC with every app). What this means in practice is that I spend roughly 80% of my time actually in the code, which is s…

Would you say that saving all of that hassle is worth the 30% you give to Apple?

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#27

Post by cageface »

bignoggins wrote: post #14

Disclaimer: I'm a full time indie iphone developer. I'm an iOS developer for one reason: it is the best platform if you want to start your own business and keep writing CODE. Apple takes care of distribution, payments, marketing (via features and top lists), and some legal issues (you get a default ToC with every app). What this means in practice is that I spend roughly 80% of my time actually in the code, which is s…

Speaking from experience, you can literally throw just about anything on the app store and it will make a couple hundred a month.

That hasn't been my experience. My experience has been that once you drop off the "new & noteworthy" sales tail off pretty sharply. The app store is very competitive now.

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#28

Post by bignoggins »

cageface wrote: post #27
bignoggins wrote: post #14

Disclaimer: I'm a full time indie iphone developer. I'm an iOS developer for one reason: it is the best platform if you want to start your own business and keep writing CODE. Apple takes care of distribution, payments, marketing (via features and top lists), and some legal issues (you get a default ToC with every app). What this means in practice is that I spend roughly 80% of my time actually in the code, which is s…

Speaking from experience, you can literally throw just about anything on the app store and it will make a couple hundred a month. That hasn't been my experience. My experience has been that once you drop off the "new & noteworthy" sales tail off pretty sharply. The app store is very competitive now.

very few apps make it onto new & noteworthy in the first place, so I don't consider that as a factor. From developers I've talked to, some have thrown pretty hastily put together weekend projects out on the app store and consistently make $5/day, which comes out to $150/month.

If you want to make more than 1K/month, then yes, it is pretty darn competitive.

Yes there are 450K apps on the app store, but if you have a well made app that fits a need and isn't "yet another flashlight" you're already ahead of 99.9% of the junk out there.

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#29

Post by bignoggins »

ashconnor wrote: post #26
bignoggins wrote: post #14

Disclaimer: I'm a full time indie iphone developer. I'm an iOS developer for one reason: it is the best platform if you want to start your own business and keep writing CODE. Apple takes care of distribution, payments, marketing (via features and top lists), and some legal issues (you get a default ToC with every app). What this means in practice is that I spend roughly 80% of my time actually in the code, which is s…

Would you say that saving all of that hassle is worth the 30% you give to Apple?

For a one-person startup where my time is more limited than my money? Absolutley. 30% is not unreasonable compared to what you would pay a distributor and a publisher for shrink-wrapped software. Even then you would have to manage several stakeholders instead of just one. Visibility is also something Apple gives you if you are fortunate. Once your app hits the Top 100 charts or gets featured sales just take off like a rocket. I've been featured 3 times and while getting an Apple feature is rare, your chances are significantly improved if you have something unique and polished.

Re: Why I develop for iOS

#30

Post by bignoggins »

aphexairlines wrote: post #21
sanj wrote: post #16

This article raises a point about getting paid. I haven't seen any solid approaches (other than SaaS) about getting paid with HTML5 apps. Between your source (effectively) being available to the public and no clear way to do "mini" payment ($0.99), it limits what a indepedent developer could bootstrap with.

Regarding mini payments, what about Google Checkout for the chrome web store? If Checkout accounts are the same as Android Market accounts, you have lots of people with credit cards on file already for 1-click payments.

google checkout doesn't have nearly the same traction as iTunes. That's why android apps sell significantly less despite having a larger install base than iOS.
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