Tips for newbie iPhone Developers

Useful Pointers for Amateur Developers on iPhone App Development

Creating an app for the iPhone can be an extremely complex task to accomplish. This process can get especially overwhelming for newbie iPhone developers, who are struggling to get a grip with developing apps for the iPhone. iPhone app development requires you to tackle several aspects simultaneously, including the usability factor, testing, debugging and so on.

Here are some useful tips for the newbie iPhone developer:

Native Apps or Web Apps?

A native app is that which is installed directly on the iPhone. Native apps work with the device’s own built-in features, thereby assuring you of a much smoother app development experience. In case you are looking at developing a responsive, high-performance app or an app that involves graphics, you would do well to master Objective-C and create a native app.

On the other hand, if you want to create something simple, such as a mobile-friendly version of your Website, you can think of creating a Web app. Needless to say, it also pays to develop a native app and then create a Web app around it.

You will do well to imitate a native app while actually creating a Web app. This makes it easier for you to develop your Web app, while also creating a familiar environment for the iPhone user, who is already conversant with the device’s ways of working.

The Viewport

While most Web pages would be compatible with the size of the iPhone screen, it would still be better to ensure that your page is displayed most optimally on the iPhone. Defining this function is what tells the browser to scale your page in the best possible way for the iPhone screen. You may also consider allowing the user to pinch or double-tap the screen in order to zoom in or zoom out the page.
The viewport is what makes your Web app completely compatible with the Apple iPhone. Hence, it is absolutely necessary to define this aspect right in the very beginning.

The Address Bar

The address bar on the browser takes up considerable space on the limited real estate of the iPhone screen. In order to gain a little more space on the screen, you could hide the address bar, thus helping you display that much more information on the screen. Of course, hiding the address bar permanently is not very helpful either. Ideally, you should see to it that the address bar remains hidden while the user scrolls through the search list. It can come up again once he or she has stopped scrolling.

Use Vertical Lists

Using lists is a great way to display information, especially when you are giving the user multiple choices of action. Lists enable the user to navigate the menu with ease, while also loading faster and making the screen look a lot tidier and much more engaging.

Also, note that using vertical lists is always better than using horizontal lists. Creating a horizontal list is a far more complex process and would require more loading time, requiring you to redirect too many pages, linking each one to the main page.

Keep it Simple

Remember to keep the first version of app simple and fast. A basic app lets you work with ease, putting in just the effort that it requires and no more. It also loads faster and performs better, thus encouraging users to come back to your app. Once you are more familiar with the entire process, you can go ahead to add newer features in each subsequent release of your app.

Include an App Icon

Including a nice, eye-catching app icon would be a good idea, as it allows users to locate your app on their homescreen. Creating an icon also makes it all look very professional, while also appealing to the user’s eye.

Test on Regular Browsers

While you necessarily need to check your Web app on the iPhone browser, it also helps test the same on regular browsers, as it will help give you an idea about the general look of the app. It goes without saying that different browsers would display your app differently. Yet, this will give you a feel of your app on the Web as well.

Test the App on an iPhone

While you have access to a number of app simulators, it is always desirable to test your app on the actual device that it is meant for. Simulators can sometimes give you very different results than on the actual iPhone. This could render your app testing process ineffective. Use simulators only as a guide to help your initial assessment of the app and not as a replacement for the iPhone.

In Conclusion

Consider all the above-mentioned tips while creating your first app for the iPhone. Also research the many app development tools available to you and learn how you can use them more effectively to develop your iPhone app.

How do I sell my iPhone App via the App Store?

An overview of the process of getting an iPhone App into the App Store

Having seen the success of some developers in selling Apps for the iPhone, and with the iPad now out, there must be many developers thinking "Why not Me?". Notable early successes include Trism in 2008, where developer Steve Demeter created the puzzle game as a side project and made $250,000 (net of Apple's cut) within a couple of months.
Last year saw FireMint's Flight Control hold the #1 spot for several weeks and it sold over 700,000. The link above leads to a 16 page PDF where they published their sales figures. They're hoping to repeat the success now with an upgraded HD version for the iPad.

Billion $ Business

There are well over 100,000 registered iPhone App developers, with over 186,000 Apps in the App Store for the iPhone/iPod and over 3,500 for the iPad when this was written (according to 148 Apps). Apple by their own admission has sold over 85 million devices (50 million iPhones and 35 million iPod Touches) and games are the number one category which makes it a lot harder to achieve success. In April according to 148 Apps, an average of 105 games were released every day!

A year ago, one billion apps had been downloaded and it now stands at 3 billion. A large number of those are free (approx 22% of Apps ) but it's still an immense amount of money paid out by Apple to developers after the 30% cut that Apple takes.

It's not that easy to make a lot of money. Creating the App is one thing but selling it in sufficient numbers is a whole different ball game that demands that you promote it, and provide free copies to reviews. In some cases, people pay reviewers to get their Apps reviewed. If you're really lucky and Apple pick up on it you'll get a lot of free promotion.

Getting Started

If you're new to iPhone development, then you should definitely get this first:

• Apple Development Secrets

In a nutshell if you want to develop for the iPhone:

• You need a Mac Computer of some kind, Mac Mini, iMac, MacBook etc. You cannot develop for the App Store on a Windows or Linux PC.
• Join the Free iPhone Developers Program. This gives access to the SDK and Xcode development system which you download and install. It includes an emulator so you can test most apps except those which need hardware such as the camera or GPS.
• Pay $99 a year for access to the developer program. This lets you install apps on your own iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad. It also gives earlier access to betas and past versions of the SDK.

Development Process

So you've been developing away and have got a version that runs in the emulator. Next you've paid your $99 and been accepted in the developer's program. This means you can now try your app out on your iPhone. Here is an overview of how you do that. Apple's developer website provides a lot more detail.

You need an iPhone Development certificate.

For that you have to run the Keychain Access app on your Mac (in developer tools) and generate a Certificate Signing Request then upload it to Apple's iPhone Developer Program Portal and get the certificate. You'll also need to download the intermediate certificate as well and install both in Keychain Access.

Next up is registering your iPhone etc as a Testing device. You can have up to 100 devices which is handy for larger teams, especially when there is iPhone 3G, 3GS, iPod touch and iPad to test on.
Then you register your application. Finally, armed with both application id and device id you can generate a Provisioning Profile on the Apple website. This gets downloaded, installed into Xcode and you get to run your App on your iPhone!

The App Store

Unless your are a large company with over 500 employees or a university teaching iPhone App development there are only two ways to distribute your apps.

1. Submit it to the App Store
2. Distribute it by Ad-Hoc Distribution.

Distributing through the App Store is what most people I'd guess want to do. Ad Hoc means you produce a copy for a specified iPhone etc, and can supply it for up to 100 different devices. Again you need to get a certificate so run Keychain Access and generate another Certificate Signing request, then go to the Apple developer portal website and get a distribution certificate. You'll download and install this in Xcode and use it to generate a Distribution Provisioning Profile.

To submit your App to the App Store you'll also need the following:

• A list of descriptive words so it can be found in the App Store.
• Three icons (29 x 29, 57 x 57 and 512 x 512).
• A Launch image that appears while your App is loading.
• A few (1-4) screenshots of your App's screens.
• Contract information.

Then you do the actual submitting to the iTunesConnect website (part of Apple.com), set prices (or is it free) etc. Then, assuming that you've avoided the many ways of getting Apple to reject your App from the App Store, it should appear in a few days.
Here are some of the reasons for rejection but it's not complete, so please read Apple's best practices document:

• It's considered objectionable e.g. pornography.
• It crashes.
• It has a backdoor or is malicious.
• It uses private APIs.

Apple says that they receive 8,500 Apps per week and 95% of submissions get accepted within 14 days. So good luck with your submission and get coding!

By the way, if you decide to include an Easter Egg (surprise screens, hidden content, jokes etc) in your App be sure to let the review team know how to activate it. They won't tell; their lips are sealed. If on the other hand you don't tell them and it comes out, then so might your App from the App Store!