Many people we talk to are concerned about developing software that targets newly-released or pre-release OSes. What if most customers are still running iOS 5? Isn’t it taking on unnecessary risk? No. By far the bigger risk is supporting old version of the OS like iOS 5. For the vast majority of new software development, it’s a critical strategy failure … Read More
With 9% marketshare, Apple has 75% of all cell phone profits
According to CNN, Apple’s “tiny” 9% marketshare accounts for 75% of all cell phone profits. This chart covers all phone sales, not just smartphones, and the whole world, not just the U.S. This teaches a powerful lesson: more marketshare does not mean more money. Not all customers are created equally. Android’s marketshare looks impressive, but when you drill down into … Read More
Don’t support iOS 4
Many clients mistakenly believe that supporting previous versions of iOS software is important. But almost universally, supporting iOS 4 and earlier is a bad investment. Most iOS users can upgrade Unlike other platforms where software updates are provided for very limited windows, Apple’s updates run on devices up to two years old. Apple works hard to make new versions of … Read More
Apple vs Android in the enterprise: Not even close
Android has been making some gains lately in overall marketshare. But AppleInsider has some fantastic charts today showing off the widening gap between Apple and Android in the enterprise: It’s not even a fair fight. Even the least-owned iOS device, the iPhone 3GS, beats the pants off the most popular Android device. If you’re targeting enterprise users or business users … Read More
The agility of small teams
Some managers think that it’s important to have lots of programmers working on a project. After all, the more people you have, the faster it will get done! But nine pregnant women can’t make a baby in a month. Adding more people to a late software project makes it later. – Fred Brooks In fact, large software teams lead to … Read More
Agile iPhone Development
At DrewCrawfordApps, we practice an agile development methodology based on multiple small sprints and continuous delivery. This is because agile methods provide higher productivity, lower costs, result in higher quality software, and happier clients. Higher Productivity and Lower Costs According to VersionOne’s 2010 study, 66% of agile practitioners report faster time-to-completion for software projects. More than half of all respondants report that … Read More
iOS Developers are in Demand
MacWorld has published an article discussing how difficult it is to hire qualified iOS developers: “We’re 100 people, but we have work for 130 people. We just don’t have those extra 30 bodies,” Michaels says. He adds that salaries for experienced iPhone developers “just keep going up. Our year-over-year salaries are up almost 20 percent.” iOS development is a demand … Read More
iPhone 4S announced
Apple announced today the release of the iPhone 4GS. Some of the major improvements, from an app developer point of view: The new A5 chip will give mobile developers new opportunities for complex calculations. More than just the gaming examples Apple demonstrated in the keynote, productivity and business applications can also reap large benefits from the new chip. The new … Read More
iOS 5 announced for October 12th.
Apple announced the public release of iOS5 on October 12th today. We have been testing iOS5 for several months now, and we are very excited about many of the new features: Twitter Integration & Game Center improvements – Integrated properly, this can make apps more discoverable which translates directly into improved app rankings and sales Newsstand – this is an … Read More
Volume Purchase Program: new private distribution options
Apple’s Volume Purchase Program opens new opportunities for certain types of distribution scenarios. Originally designed for educational institutions, the Volume Purchase Program has recently been opened to all businesses. How does the Volume Purchase Program work? The Program allows one developer with a Standard Developer Account to sell applications directly to eligible purchasers without making the application publicly available in the … Read More
