

The iPhone Development Story: One Year Later - ZeroGravitas
http://www.mikeash.com/?page=pyblog/the-iphone-development-story-one-year-later.html

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bitwize
Steve Rubell once ran the coolest nightclub in New York City. No one blamed
him for being arbitrary and capricious in selecting who gets in. That's part
of what made Studio 54 so cool. There were a zillion other, less cool, places
you could go if you didn't like it.

Likewise, the iPhone is perhaps the coolest end-user platform in the history
of, like, ever. If Apple wants to be arbitrary and capricious in selecting
which apps are available for their platform that's a) their own business and
b) probably a factor in increasing the iPhone's appeal to developers and
users, not decreasing it.

~~~
alex_c
>probably a factor in increasing the iPhone's appeal to developers and users,
not decreasing it.

To users, maybe - other than boneheaded moves like making dictionaries
R-rated.

To developers, I highly doubt it. So many developers flock to it because it
has tens of millions of users, not because it's a pleasure to work with -
maybe it is compared to Blackberry or Symbian (I've never used them), but
definitely not compared to Android (and, I'm assuming, the Pre).

The iPhone isn't the coolest end-user platform because Apple has turned the
submission process into a complete nightmare. It's the coolest end-user
platform because it's sleek and shiny and sexy - it was sexy before the App
Store launched.

You can't compare the minor annoyance of being turned away from a nightclub to
wasting weeks or months on an app that is never approved.

------
dbul
_My advice? Pick another platform to program for. The Mac is pretty nice. If
you absolutely must develop for a mobile platform, try Android._

I've never had a Mac until last year, and I've been programming in Java for 10
years. Java is my least favorite language, but I think it is one of the
easiest for most people. To me, Objective C is easy, but then again C was my
first language. So it just depends on what you are comfortable with, really.

 _You probably won't make any money at it, but on the other hand, you probably
won't make any money at iPhone development either_

The first thing I did was program a rather involved iPhone application
pertaining to my startup. I released it for free, updated it, no problems. The
second thing I did was make a really simple application and sell it for $0.99
-- and it is making money without me having to do anything further. Before I
released my first app, I would hear all of these "You probably won't make any
money" stories and wasn't sure what to think. What I did was: have fun. If you
aren't going to enjoy programming and you expect mad earnings, then yeah,
throw in the towel.

~~~
wallflower
How long did it take you to ramp up the Objective-C (from Java) learning
curve? Memory management, Cocoa

> rather involved iPhone application pertaining to my startup

I'd love to see this app (if you're willing to divulge)

> What I did was: have fun

Great or misguided expectations lead to disappointment. I like how your
expectations had nothing to do with the App Store gold rush.

~~~
dbul
As I said, C was my first language. As for Cocoa, it wasn't that bad
considering by the time I really got into it there were plenty of examples out
there (chances are, if you have a question about Cocoa for iPhone, it has been
answered by now).

Well, the app is out there, but it is useless unless you are in the City of
Pittsburgh. My approach to the startup is unconventional: I'm laying down
pieces which will be played later on. It feels like chess. Not a chance a VC
would ever fund us because of that. Yet it is no doubt as likely or more
likely we will fail among startups.

Thanks. Do it because you love it.

~~~
mblakele
Hmm... 7f inc?

"Park" is clever: nice use of the technology at hand.

~~~
dbul
The point of that app is simplicity. It's not innovative in the least, just
simplifying what may be complex to people.

At first I thought you were being facetious, but then I saw your app. It would
be interesting if you compared sales of 1.1 and 1.2 since they are so
dramatically different aesthetically.

~~~
mblakele
AlbumMixer is a pure itch-scratching app: I wanted album shuffle badly enough
to pay Apple for dev program membership. Now I'm letting the market pay some
of that back to me, if it wants to. I might never write another iPhone app,
unless I happen to come up with a cool idea that's well-suited to the medium.

Getting back to 1.2, it won't be possible to differentiate the UI changes from
the significant feature changes: the filters were the single feature that
users of 1.0 requested, and I couldn't see shoehorning them into the single-
view UI. I would expect the new feature to have a larger effect than the new
UI, but I can't see a way to test that theory.

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lacker
He describes the iPhone as "a cool phone to have" but "crippled by the small
number of quality third-party applications available". What is he talking
about? It has more third party applications than any other phone by far. I
have an Android phone and I wish there was half the variety of apps as there
are on the iPhone.

~~~
boucher
you're missing the modifier which is they key to his sentence.

~~~
awolf
The iPhone certainly has the highest number of quality third party apps. That
the App Store is flooded with absolute crap does not change this.

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msie
Remember, this is just one guy's melodramatic opinion. He seems to complain
TOO MUCH. He complains about the debugger and I've had no problems with it. He
complains how OS upgrades on the Mac and iPhone have caused him problems and
I've had no problems. Then there are the many reader comments that state
opposite experiences to his. And then he suggests developing on Android which,
I've heard, sounds like a nightmare to develop for _according to another blog_
;). Add to that how zealous he is to respond to each little criticism and I
think he's hysterical.

Yeah, I've had my problems writing my iPhone application but it's getting
easier and I'm in a much better place after only two months than if I'd read
his blog and given up iPhone development before I even tried.

