Earlier quoted context omitted.
What brand can you name that wouldn’t have something useful you could do with an app?
The Hershey Company.
Ask HN: Is it worth switching from web development to native iOS dev?
51–60 of 68 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching from web development to native iOS dev?
#52Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching from web development to native iOS dev?
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Extremely difficult to build an indie business on iOS given that there is a single distribution channel that you don't control. Would this imply it is easier to build an indie business on Android?
I don't have any direct experience of building a business on Android. Last I heard iOS users spend more money on the App Store than Android users. I think this implies it is harder. I would think they are both pretty difficult probably in the same order of magnitude to each other.
If the walled garden is that bad for indies, indies should do way better on Android, right?
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching from web development to native iOS dev?
#54Oooh, interesting. So, people who know: I get the impression that we're moving to a "business that has an app front end" model rather than the app itself being the business. So isn't it "better" to use a cross platform toolkit?
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching from web development to native iOS dev?
#55This question echos fifteen years ago. Swap "iOS" for "Flash." People might have said, "Adobe isn't going out of business any time soon." And those people would have been right. Web development on the other hand is as much "a thing" today as it was back then.
Can you make money as an iOS developer? Sure. But the unit economics are not great. iOS apps are usually free. Paid apps usually $0.99. $1.99 is an expensive app. That's retail before Apple takes its cut. On the consulting/contractor/freelancer side, it's probably harder to find iOS clients than web clients. iOS is after the gold rush. Any stable company with deep pockets that wants an iOS app probably already has one.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching from web development to native iOS dev?
#56My perspective on this has evolved quite recently.
I’ve been doing Angular and React apps on the web professionally for six or seven years now, and a few native iOS apps on the side for fun.
Last summer I got a gig doing a React Native app. “No problem; I know React, I know native. Let’s go.”
I kind of hated it. Everything I was doing in React, though familiar and second nature, seemed so DUMB because I knew that Cocoa Touch had better, faster, simpler solutions.
I came out of the experience with the feeling that web apps are profoundly misguided; that we ought to be going back to static sites for the web, and _real_ native for functionality.
I guess my answer is “yes, absolutely, and maybe you should consider ditching web apps altogether.”
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching from web development to native iOS dev?
#57This question echos fifteen years ago. Swap "iOS" for "Flash." People might have said, "Adobe isn't going out of business any time soon." And those people would have been right. Web development on the other hand is as much "a thing" today as it was back then. Can you make money as an iOS developer? Sure. But the unit economics are not great. iOS apps are usually free. Paid apps usually $0.99. $1.99 is an expensive ap…
You can't swap iOS for Flash.
iOS/Android is more similar to the introduction of the Web Browser. It's an entire platform shift that fundamentally changes how people interact with computing, period.
Re: Ask HN: Is it worth switching from web development to native iOS dev?
#58I too am a web developer and have constantly been fascinated by new technologies. I had looked at android development but could not get a hang of Java. Recently flutter has been in the wild and so I choose to get my hands dirty by doing flutter challenges. I loved the process and the ease of working with flutter so I ensure that I spend at least 1 hour everyday developing in flutter. I look forward to getting off from work so I can switch on my home laptop and do some flutter. P.S : I will continue being a web developer.