As there seems to be quite a few Apple faithful on here, can one of you give me a snapshot of what the deal is with developing your own software for iPhone/iPod Touch?

I keep hearing terms like Jailbreak but I dont really know what it is. Ive also heard theyre releasing an SDK in 2008?

Whats the language behind the platform, wondering if its already pretty common on other devices and whether there are many companies in the UK who develop on it.

Jailbreak:

Your phone and touch are closed to 3rd party programs as a default to "protect it" and only ajax based web applications can run in its browser from the net.

Jailbreaking unlocks the phone and touch (NOT THE NETWORK) in terms of the software lock out to allow you to install and run 3rd party applications.

It is actually very very easy to do, you just visit a website on the device click a button it restarts after a pause and your away but it does void your warranty
Unofficial sdk here:
http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2007/09/19/the-unofficial-iphone-sdk-guide-to-writing-native-iphone-applications/

Since this all happned Apple admitted defeat and announced that in January if not sooner they will release an official sdk and open up these so official programs can be put on them and rightly so.

Apple only let you run signed apps at the moment (and some web apps).

Theyre turning that off in the near future and releasing an official SDK soon.

Jailbreaking just means letting it run 3rd party software (like chipping an xbox except you do it software).



Ive not written any high level stuff for one yet but code them in XCode (comes on all macs) and then compile it with one of the OpenSDKs (Lucas, etc) for the iPhone platform.

And tbh people have been amazing and quick to produce some actual really useful programs as well and they certanly take the iphone/touch into another element with more features.
Seen a sketchpad today that looked very clever

Awesome use of the new programming and development forum here.... in general discussion.

Once again M3ta7h3ad adds something useful to a thread  :mrgreen:

Quote from: KunalOnce again M3ta7h3ad adds something useful to a thread  :mrgreen:

dont make me feed you to my monkey.

Was just a hint to the admins to move the thread

Cheers sarcy

Does anyone know of any companies that develop with XCode or of a directory site for this kind of stuff?

Cant seem to find one.

Just talking about this with my cousin and he pointed me towards something he quickly banged together a while back for it.

Thought some of you here might find it useful.

http://www.tvguide.co.uk/iphone.asp

the iphone would be great to develop for - most of the saps that went and bought one will literally pay anything for anything, as long as there is an i in front of it.

iemacs, imore, iless, ivi, maybe even igrep - all really simple free apps that you could get running on the im so 2004, and charge whatever you want for.

sigh - is every thread relating to apple/iphone going to have someone post how silly people are who bought whatever the latest steve jobs "Marvel" is this week.  Its kinda getting boring.  Theres nothing wrong with a lot of the stuff they produce - some of its great, somes crap.  In threads where people are asking about devloping for a platform opinions on what others should be spending on equipment arent immensly useful.  And tbh for a lot of people who buy this stuff a couple of hundred quid isnt a lot of money.


Anyway,
A lot of people develop with XCode but dont know many who deal with it exclusively.  Most simply compile apple releases using it for the universal binary outputs.  XCodes actually a pretty good coding environment when Ive used it.  That said, I spend most of my developing time in Visual studio or at a shell prompt...

What sort of XCode projects are you looking for?

Quote from: Markthe iphone would be great to develop for - most of the saps that went and bought one will literally pay anything for anything, as long as there is an i in front of it.

iemacs, imore, iless, ivi, maybe even igrep - all really simple free apps that you could get running on the im so 2004, and charge whatever you want for.

ivi... awesome name lol.

I...... Viiiiiiii..