Not being funny but if you are going to put it on your resume, you obviously want it, (not in isolation), to lead to a job?
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Former Starbucks Worker Says Attending Apple's Developer Academy Was 'Opportunity of My Life'
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Given there are 700,000,000+ active iOS devices in use, you are saying there are over 7,000,000,000 active Android devices in use? Seriously? Likewise, you do realize application revenue on iOS has long outstripped Android app revenue even with the differences in market share. Likewise, Android's basket case of media handling REQUIRES a decent media player something most iOS users don't need.
But in general, iOS still leads Android app revenue by about 60/40 even with its smaller market share. Do you seriously think those billions of $30 Android burner phones actually generate massive app revenue?
The line of discussion, I was joining in with my comment, was about earning a living with coding. Not doing it as a hobby.
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I don't think it's born out of ignorance as I am a web developer who did some iOS/macOS development (thankfully on the side and not full in with my time), so I dare to say I have first hand of the economics in that niche.
Where are these tons of iOS/macOS opportunities outside of the AppStore? There are no iOS apps outside of the AppStore, and the commercially successful macOS apps outside of the store can literally be counted on your fingers. I'm counting strictly native Objective-C/Swift apps and not cross-platform apps because they aren't developed on a Mac or with Mac based tools anyway.
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Well that changes....nothing. If you think it's stupid to learn iOS programming for a living I've got an entire floor of 200+ coders (all earning well over $70K to start) I've got some bad news for here at work....
The point is almost every major business has an App. The app itself is not what the company relies on for income, but merely serves as an extension to get to the services this company offers.
I do agree that macOS Appstore is a dead fish thought.
I have been pretty alarmed lately by the surge in non-traditional coding schools. I will say that as a self-taught iOS software developer, there is a huge benefit to the traditional computer science courses taught in universities. Things like algorithmic analysis, data structures, and so on can be quite difficult to teach yourself because so much of it is very unintuitive.
I would say there are a lot of click-and-point programmers who don't really understand the basics of how their code actually works, don't understand how to perform more complex tasks (ie. coming up with highly efficient sorting algorithms, search structures, and things like that).
iOS development has gotten quite easy in terms of UI lately, with visual storyboards and all that. Making a buggy, slow app is extremely easy. Making a fast and refined app that people will actually want to use, on the other hand, can be quite difficult and time consuming.
But on the other hand, you wouldn't believe some of the ridiculous salary offers I've gotten. It's quite strange. The app store makes so few people money, yet the field is booming regardless. Makes me wonder if we're in a bubble, and if that bubble will ever crash.
Just in case, I've started diversifying my skill set
I would say there are a lot of click-and-point programmers who don't really understand the basics of how their code actually works, don't understand how to perform more complex tasks (ie. coming up with highly efficient sorting algorithms, search structures, and things like that).
iOS development has gotten quite easy in terms of UI lately, with visual storyboards and all that. Making a buggy, slow app is extremely easy. Making a fast and refined app that people will actually want to use, on the other hand, can be quite difficult and time consuming.
You definitely don't make it as a software developer if your only goal is to get rich, that's for damn sure. You do have to have a true passion for the craft.
But on the other hand, you wouldn't believe some of the ridiculous salary offers I've gotten. It's quite strange. The app store makes so few people money, yet the field is booming regardless. Makes me wonder if we're in a bubble, and if that bubble will ever crash.
Just in case, I've started diversifying my skill set
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He touch with his finger the display!! MacBook Touch with a Display? That converts to an iPad when taken away from their body?
Are you serious? There are tons of B2B apps that enterprises develop in house. They aren't shown on the usual public App Store. Those app developers make a pretty decent living and it sure isn't based on games about candy.
If you can write a good iOS app, it doesn't matter if you don't make money directly, because there are tons of high payed developer jobs, and it is a great thing to have on you resume.
Of course there are iOS apps outside of the App Store. That's what enterprise apps are for. Many of the large companies you've heard of have internal iOS apps distributed to their employees via an enterprise account. Those companies employ iOS developers (or hire consultants) to develop their iOS apps. So even if compensation is your only concern, learning to develop for iOS is not a risky proposition.
But don't stop there. Learning new platforms and languages is an important part of being a developer. What's popular today may not make economic sense tomorrow. Try not to be resistant to learning new platforms and languages. You never know when your comfort zone will get yanked out from under you.
Your comments, so far, are totally born out of ignorance. I get contacted regularly from companies like GM, IBM, Ford and other large Fortune 500 companies to do enterprise specific development for iOS. I stay in the embedded market (writing low level device drivers and custom OSes for safe software systems) for Avionics but there seems to be a very healthy living to be made doing enterprise specific tools deployed only within a company and not from within the AppStore. I have a few friends do it and doing very well.
You dabbled with an idea and failed so everyone fails. This is a false equivalence.
"There are no iOS apps outside of the AppStore" This is a straight out lie and an indication your comments are born out of ignorance. iOS has had Enterprise deployment of custom apps OUTSIDE the AppStore for years. Check out Apple's Developer Enterprise Program.
"I'm counting strictly native Objective-C/Swift apps and not cross-platform apps because they aren't developed on a Mac or with Mac based tools anyway." This is another straight out lie (I say lie because you claim to have first hand knowledge). There are multiple cross platform tools for iOS/tvOS... that run on the Mac. Unity is an example of a cross platform tool running on macOS.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Apple only displays reviews of the current available version of an app, unless you go into the "All Versions," tab. There are far more reviews than immediately seen.
Edit: You're aware, spot on for nPlayer, but why the obscure choice? Wrong market- I doubt the larger demographic of Apple users need a player to view pirated films. That's definitely and android-user theme.
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Definitely looks like a great product, but going back, Apple users are definitely the type to gravitate towards worthless apps, games, etc. Your example is too respectable.
Surely most iPhone users don't even know what RAM is, let alone DivX. Ha.
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Yes, it breaks down reviews by current version and all versions. For this particular app 676 reviews is for all versions.
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Edit: You're aware, spot on for nPlayer, but why the obscure choice? Wrong market- I doubt the larger demographic of Apple users need a player to view pirated films. That's definitely and android-user theme.
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Definitely looks like a great product, but going back, Apple users are definitely the type to gravitate towards worthless apps, games, etc. Your example is too respectable.
I could've used Netflix as an example but this article is about small developer. As a small developer they have to offer something unique which nPlayer is and it's a universal media player and not just for pirated content.
How about a popular educational app like Everycircuit?
Android Everycircuit
36,924 reviews
iOS Everycircuit
114 reviews (~0.3%)
Even Netflix is in the single %.
Android Netflix
4,036,503 reviews
iOS Netflix
306,668 reviews (~8%)
Goes back to the point that as a small or even medium size developer it's suicidal to develop for iOS only vs cross-platform. As you've hinted there's a smaller market for apps beyond basics like Facebook on iOS and the double whammy is the smaller ~10% marketshare. I've seen a similar occurrence happen in the 80's and early 90's with the implosion of the Apple II platform once marketshare dropped into the single digit with all the developers fleeing to more rewarding platforms.
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This is going to sound counterintuitive, but what would increase music sales would be to bring back the iPod as a standalone music device. Listening to music is an intimate experience. The way it's delivered now in our phone debases the experience because there are just way too many distractions.
When the iPod first came out, I would sit for hours just listening to music. My phone would be somewhere else. Now if I listen to music, it gets interrupted by any number of things. Yes, I know I can silence those things while I listen, but that's not the point.
The second thing Apple needs to do is dump iTunes OR make a web version of it. Maybe even break music out of it or break all the other crap out of it and make into its own browser app and/or local application.
My two cents.
When the iPod first came out, I would sit for hours just listening to music. My phone would be somewhere else. Now if I listen to music, it gets interrupted by any number of things. Yes, I know I can silence those things while I listen, but that's not the point.
The second thing Apple needs to do is dump iTunes OR make a web version of it. Maybe even break music out of it or break all the other crap out of it and make into its own browser app and/or local application.
My two cents.
Why would he pay to Apple to fly from UK to Naples ? He decided to fly to Naples.
The course is free, Apple is not charging for it.
But the simple fact still remains. Developer profit is still about a 60/40 spit in the favor of iOS. Much of this can be traced to bogus market share numbers like your assumption of 7-10 billion active Android devices VS Google's number of 2 billion.
That's completely false. Plenty of opportunity for iOS developing; lots of companies need iOS apps and hire developers to make them. You seem to be laboring under the misconception that the only iOS developing involves submitting to the app store directly.
Also false...not that much piracy on iOS compared to Android. Even with a smaller marketshare, paid apps typically do better on iOS.
--Eric
Software engineering is one of the biggest fields right now. Even if the App Store is no longer a gold mine, he'll have the skills to do something better than an Starbucks job
Last year I received an average of 2 job offers a month related to iOS programming.
When it will stop being popular I'll change platform and do another job, like I've done in the past 10 years.
Learning new languages is always good
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