Need to get up to speed on mobile apps

**doodab** · 22 July 2010, 13:43

Originally posted by xoggoth View Post

Got a meeting with a largish educational company who are interested in collaborating on future product development options including mobile devices like the IPOD etc. maybe porting something like this from PC. They don't appear to have much experience with software development themselves so far, they are more science equipment suppliers.

Looked at this a year or two ago but didn't go anywhere with it, mainly as testing too pricey for a very small company. As I understand it you can develop in say Java using a PC emulator but there may still be differences on individual devices. Might be different if they are prepared to buy some actual devices.

Need to get back up to speed on latest ideas, what devices sell, best platform/OS, best PC development options, which is cheapest - affordable for school pupils etc. Any general thoughts much apreciated.

You can get the android SDK from google for free, it comes with an emulator and uses eclipse for an IDE, so no cost for the tools. It has it's own API rather than say Java ME.

Apple I don't know about.

I can help thinking children, ipod and ponds are a bad combo though....

**eek** · 22 July 2010, 14:19

Originally posted by xoggoth View Post

Got a meeting with a largish educational company who are interested in collaborating on future product development options including mobile devices like the IPOD etc. maybe porting something like this from PC. They don't appear to have much experience with software development themselves so far, they are more science equipment suppliers.

Looked at this a year or two ago but didn't go anywhere with it, mainly as testing too pricey for a very small company. As I understand it you can develop in say Java using a PC emulator but there may still be differences on individual devices. Might be different if they are prepared to buy some actual devices.

Need to get back up to speed on latest ideas, what devices sell, best platform/OS, best PC development options, which is cheapest - affordable for school pupils etc. Any general thoughts much apreciated.

Gissajob

But in reality:

iphone has 60% of the smart phone market based on the confidential figures I saw earlier today.
Android is 6% of the market and rising, the rest is a state of flux and probably irrelevent to the market unless you want to create J2me apps and test across a million devices (its why I quit that market 8 years ago).

The sensible market to focus on at the moment is iphone, ipad and ipod touchs (the latter for teenagers). Development options are however restricted to Macs and objective C with a but that I'll come to.

Android has a number of options but I believe there is an eclipse interface if you are that way inclined.

The but is an advantage with a cost. There are a couple of programming tools that allow you to code once and within reason deploy to multiple devices.

If you are happy with Javascript Appcelerator Titanium will give you a means of developing for android, iphone and blackberrys. Its good if you are developing a hypercard type app.

If you know c# and are developing games type apps unity3d is the way to go.

**Scrag Meister** · 22 July 2010, 14:50

You have to buy a Mac machine to dev for Apple products in Objective-C?

Bascially free development for Android or 1-2k for a machine to dev for Apple.

**eek** · 22 July 2010, 15:13

Originally posted by Scrag Meister View Post

You have to buy a Mac machine to dev for Apple products in Objective-C?

Bascially free development for Android or 1-2k for a machine to dev for Apple.

Yes. Even if you are using unity3d or appcelerator you still need the Mac.

Its why my next laptop will have to be a macbook regardless of how much I like Windows 7 and VS2010. Hopefully with 8gb and Vmware fusion it will still work.

**xchaotic** · 22 July 2010, 17:13

Originally posted by eek View Post

Yes. Even if you are using unity3d or appcelerator you still need the Mac.

Its why my next laptop will have to be a macbook regardless of how much I like Windows 7 and VS2010. Hopefully with 8gb and Vmware fusion it will still work.

Also add the ADC membership and some iPhone / iPad to test on.
Still I think it's fairly cool on Apples part - it's their product, when you compare the cost of development for say Playstation 3, it really pales.

And you can definitely buy a second hand Mac for the task too...

**Durbs** · 22 July 2010, 17:40

Originally posted by Scrag Meister View Post

1-2k for a machine to dev for Apple.

Nah, Mac Mini is more than up to the job.

**xoggoth** · 22 July 2010, 18:05

Hey 6 replies! ta. Yes, I understand you do need an Apple computer to develop for Ipod, that was another problem, having to buy a Mac. Presumably no worse than developing in an unfamiliar prog in PC tho? Used to .net in VS2005/2008. That brilliant Ipod rival by Nokia (N97 or summit like that?) rather died the death by the looks of it.

**TimberWolf** · 22 July 2010, 20:03

Originally posted by Durbs View Post

Nah, Mac Mini is more than up to the job.

What about O/S though? Does it need Leopard or some-such modern O/S to run Cocoa, Xcode, etc? Or would any old cheap used Mac bought off eBay with commensurate O/S do the trick?

**NickFitz** · 22 July 2010, 22:13

Originally posted by TimberWolf View Post

What about O/S though? Does it need Leopard or some-such modern O/S to run Cocoa, Xcode, etc? Or would any old cheap used Mac bought off eBay with commensurate O/S do the trick?

You need Snow Leopard to run the latest version of the Developer Tools and the iOS 4/iOS 3.2 SDKs (which cover iPhone and iPad). Signing up to the iPhone Developer Program (which also covers iPad development) is £59, and if you need to upgrade a Mac from an older OS then Snow Leopard is £25.

Oh, and it has to be an Intel Mac - no PowerPC support any more.

Need to get up to speed on mobile apps