iOS Coding for iPhone in Windows

The only way you might get it to work is with a hackintosh, otherwise you're SOL.

C2FTW said:

I know that recent mac OS's have been ported to the Win32/x86 architecture. I'm looking around on the VMware forums for confirmation, but this would make sense, no?

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Win32 is Windows. It has nothing to do with the architecture of the hardware. Mac OS has not been ported to anything to do with Win32. The EULA of Mac OS prohibits running on anything but an Apple produced Mac (including virtualisation).

As mentioned, you can create a Hackintosh or you may be able to use a virtual machine to run OS X on. A copy of OS X is USD$129 and there is at lease one free VM. An internet search will come up with the solutions.

There are no emulators.

Apple has discouraged third party IDEs and limited language use via their developer user agreement.

I believe that to post an app to the App Store requires the use of XCode. In turn that requires OS X.

You could buy a used Mac to keep the entry price low. Just keep in mind that it must be an Intel based Mac. The older PPC Macs do not support iOS development.

Just buy the cheapest Mac Mini (new or used).

If you buy used, make sure it's got an Intel CPU.

Use your PC Keyboard and Monitor. You can get fancy and buy a $20 KVM (keyboard/video/monitor) switch to switch between your PC and Mac.

You can probably find a Mac Mini for the price of a Netbook if you look on ebay, craigs list. And even new, they're pretty cheap.

xStep said:

A copy of OS X is USD$129 and there is at lease one free VM.

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Well, my 10.6.3 DVD was 29€ at the mall.
I guess you refer to VirtualBox. It only runs Mac OS X Server, and for that your $129 wouldn't be enough.

BUT: You want to develop for the iPhone -> Means you want to put something on the App Store -> Means you want to earn money.
I guess the first rule in life is "If you want to earn, you got to spend first". Or in other words, just get any Intel MacMini for little money. To develop for the iPhone, you have to work on a Mac, and IMHO this is an advantage. If you start using Mac OS X, you begin to see things different, because things are handled a bit different (Don't let us start the Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard thing here, we're close to 10.7 and I haven't heard of Windows 8 yet). Those little differences condensate into your development, and this is what we love so much on our iPhone.

Also, if you don't have a Mac, you may want to spend those $200-300 for a MacMini and try it out. If you don't like it, you can still resell it. Macs don't loose their value as fast as PCs.

Giuly said:

I guess the first rule in life is "If you want to earn, you got to spend first".

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You've got to speculate to accumulate.

Oh and the only reason Snow Leopard was so cheap was because it was an upgrade version. If you want a new copy that will install without Leopard already being installed it is the normal price.

Oh, right. I forgot about the messy $29 and $169 versions. There is no $129 version currently. If you are upgrading specifically from Leopard, then you are entitled by Apple to buy the $29 box. If you are upgrading from pre-Leopard, you are suppose to buy the more expensive box which includes the iLife set. Never mind that you may have already purchased that set.

Anyway, the $29 box installs just fine on a Mac without Leopard. As for the VM installs, the OP will have to do his own detailed research.

As far as I know, VirtualBox doesn't limit which version of OS X you install, server or client. It is the other two major brands that take that action. And they also limit you to a Mac box running OS X.

This *may* not be an issue, but in theory, someone writing apps on a Hackintosh might be in trouble for violating copyright laws, similar to someone writing a commercial application on a pirated commercial compiler.

I doubt Apple would sue an app developer into the ground, but legally, they can.

Just to get in the door, I second the Mac Mini suggestion for a low end machine. Alternatively, you can use the dual-HDD Mac Mini (plus an external DVD drive) as a development machine, so one HDD failure won't take out your build tree.

mlts22 said:

This *may* not be an issue, but in theory, someone writing apps on a Hackintosh might be in trouble for violating copyright laws, similar to someone writing a commercial application on a pirated commercial compiler.

I doubt Apple would sue an app developer into the ground, but legally, they can.

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I far as I know, there isn't any completed case to suggest that installing a paid for copy of OS X on non Apple hardware brakes any law. There has been plenty of argument either way and Apple is involved in such a lawsuit with Psystar Corporation. Even so, I wonder if that case would affect individuals building their own Hackintosh.

Admittedly, the above doesn't affect me directly because both of my OS X machines are Apple Macs. Well, for now.

xStep said:

I far as I know, there isn't any completed case to suggest that installing a paid for copy of OS X on non Apple hardware brakes any law. There has been plenty of argument either way and Apple is involved in such a lawsuit with Psystar Corporation. Even so, I wonder if that case would affect individuals building their own Hackintosh.

Admittedly, the above doesn't affect me directly because both of my OS X machines are Apple Macs. Well, for now.

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Sometimes I wish Apple would give discounts for app developers for Macs. Since Apple is making money from them from the App Store, might as well toss a bone to the devs and offer equipment at some sort of discount, discount dependent on how much revenue the app has made.

mlts22 said:

Sometimes I wish Apple would give discounts for app developers for Macs. Since Apple is making money from them from the App Store, might as well toss a bone to the devs and offer equipment at some sort of discount, discount dependent on how much revenue the app has made.

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They did. I don't know if the offer was limited to Mac developers and excluded iPhone developers. As far as I know, that program has been discontinued and people who are still on it, can still order a Mac (and some other hardware) at a discount.

xStep said:

They did. I don't know if the offer was limited to Mac developers and excluded iPhone developers. As far as I know, that program has been discontinued and people who are still on it, can still order a Mac (and some other hardware) at a discount.

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It was Mac only and the program was a lot more expensive than the iPhone one.

robbieduncan said:

It was Mac only and the program was a lot more expensive than the iPhone one.

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Yeah, I remember Chris Pirillo getting a Mac Pro and a Apple Developer premium license for less than the Mac Pro would have cost without the dev license

C2FTW said:

Hey all,

I didn't see this in any stickies, so please point me at another thread if necessary.


To get you started, here is the sticky titled "How do I get started programming on the Mac (or iPhone)?"
https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/135/

I work on a PC and I want to develop some apps for the iPhone. I'm wondering about what's the best way to code for a mac on my box. I've thought about dual booting but I'd rather not go that direction. Are there any specific OS emulators or IDEs that are good for this? Any advice would be great.

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As others commented, Apple strongly discourage 3rd party development tools, especially for the iPhone. XCode for the MacOS is comparable to Microsoft's Visual Studio. If you have a Mac, you can download XCode for free.

ctyhntr said:

If you have a Mac, you can download XCode for free.

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And if you don't have the bandwidth to download the multi gigabyte file, then a slightly older version is available on the OS X install DVD.

xStep said:

And if you don't have the bandwidth to download the multi gigabyte file, then a slightly older version is available on the OS X install DVD.

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With outdated SDK's sadly.

C2FTW said:

I work on a PC and I want to develop some apps for the iPhone. I'm wondering about what's the best way to code for a mac on my box.

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Before Apple released the official SDK, there was an unofficial SDK made by the jailbreak community. For your own purposes only it might be possible to resurrect the unofficial SDK command-line tools to develop and deploy an App.

However, it would be a lot easier to just buy a Mac