3.0 Only Apps

I suppose I haven't fully decided.

I recently updated my app with a 2.x version. I'll have another update in a month or two. I'm not using any 3.0-specific features right now. It is annoyingly complicated to release an app that's built for 3.0 but also runs on 2.x. It also adds to the testing matrix in a way that's not too much fun.

I'm currently developing under 3.0 and adding conditional compilation to decide between 2.x or 3.0. I'll decide when I get closer to release time but it seems much simpler to release a 3.0-only app than an app that supports both. Sticking with 2.x would be possible but also complicates things as I no longer have a 2.x device for testing.

Hopefully iPod Touch users will move to 3.0 soon so this becomes a non-issue.

 

All of our new apps (in various stages of development) are 3.0 only. We make really extensive use of the 3.0 stuff, and it's just not cost-effective to maintain all of that backwards compatibility with an OS that in 3 or 4 months will have disappeared.

Apps that were released for 2.x may be exempted, of course (for a few months.)

Doug

 

I think Core Data is going to be the biggie for many developers. As soon as that came along, I dropped everything and rewrote my in-development app for Core Data. Using SQLite directly is a complete pain in the wotsit.

 

I voted yes for my in-development app. My other app - on the store already - will remain compatible with both for now, just so that users can get bug fixes without having to neccessarily upgrade (otherwise I could envisage complaints from iPod touch users!)

I noticed that since the SDK 3.0 GM, new apps can only be compatible with 3.0 anyway, so that choice has been taken away. This is a sensible move from Apple has the sooner everyone gets onboard the better. Maintaining for 2 sets of OSs is a wasted of resource. The bonus advantage for Apple is that developers will be compelled to implement some of the new features to make it 'worth it'.