

Why Not to Make an iPhone App - wallflower
http://www.engineeringadventure.com/2011/11/why-not-to-make-iphone-app.html

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casca
Interestingly, if you replace "app" with "custom software application", it
still reads quite accurately. Except for the Apple app store reference, of
course.

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dangrover
This is exactly why I stopped consulting three years ago and worked only on my
own stuff. Too many poorly thought out ideas with no budget or business
justification.

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idspispopd
Sadly, I still see the same mentality in websites. I feel if there is no
online strategy, then the website might as well be a business card.

Apps are "in fashion" a the moment, businesses think they need one just for
presence, developers think they need one for their resume. I've fielded too
many requests from companies that are seeking "an app". Naturally I'd quiz
them on what they'd like the app to do, and quite often the answer is that
they don't know and thought that is what I'd be bringing to the table.

I'm happy that there is a good history of the apple app store rejecting these
kinds of trivial, next-to-no function apps.

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cateye
Maybe you should make an app that your potential clients can use, to determine
if they need an iPhone app :)

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winternett
Also there's additional cost in buying Mac workstations for development and
submission of your app to the app store. Its ridiculously closed minded of
them to require this and its a huge barrier to projects because of the much
higher cost in buying Mac Hardware...

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phatbyte
I don't see .NET for the OSX either for windows mobile dev. You can do Android
apps, yes, but look at how many ugly and useless apps there is on Android
Market.

For me it has nothing to do with closed minded. It's Apple's mantra, they
rather have a small group of developers so they can select quality apps, than
to have crappy apps.

Yes, you will need to have a Apple computer, but come on, it's not that
expensive, besides if you want to make money you have to invest.

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krobertson
I agree wholeheartedly.

You develop iOS apps with Xcode. To support Windows, they need to then develop
a whole Windows IDE, support it, etc. There isn't a significant reason to,
there is no business sense in it.

Microsoft doesn't have an IDE for Mac to write Windows Phone 7 apps, and I
don't see anyone crying about it.

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bad_user
That's because Windows Phone 7 is for all purposes non existent.

Nobody is crying about it because there's nobody available to actually cry, as
only Windows devs that already have Windows machines have been targeting it
and in the larger picture all these WinMo devs put together are a tiny
minority.

That Android's SDK is multi-platform, that's one of the best features of
Android. Do you know why? Because it slowly grows in the minds of developers
that try it out and if you want to just try it out, there's no barrier to
entry. All you have to do is to download it.

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krobertson
It is true about WP7, however it doesn't refute my argument.

I have only limited use of the iOS and Android dev tools, however overall
found the iOS ones simpler to setup (ie, they're already there) and Android
document somewhat weak for starting out.

Xcode is the full experience, while Java is always "use your favorite IDE".
However that goes down a different wormhole, and personally, I don't care for
Java.

The multi-platform may be a factor for a hobbyist, but not someone looking to
actually make money. If they are serious, they shouldn't see a problem
spending $500 on a Mac mini, even less on a used system, or renting one in the
cloud. We aren't talking major expenses.

~~~
bad_user
Oh right, so you're a real professional, not a pesky hobbyist. Well if you say
so.

