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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Coding an app for iOs isn't rocket science


What do you need for coding an app?
-A cheap mac (an old core 2 duo mac mini is fine)
-A good portion of motivation
-Enough time and patience

Learning to code is difficult but in my opinion everyone can. You just have to know the right sources. I have learned coding iOs-apps using just two books. One to learn the language and another to learn how to use the different functions of an iOs-device in your code.

The first book is Learning programming in Objective C. Stephen Kochan has written the book. He explains everything in detail. Objective C is an object-oriented language and he gives the most important ideas and concepts. There are some exercises that you can make. In that way, you can check whether you understand the key ideas and concepts. You can also find a key on his website

The second book is a book about Cocoa Touch. Aaron Hillegas is a good author who explains everything very clearly. But you can also use this book that's quite fine. These books show you how apps have to behave in iOs and how you can use several features like autorotation.

If you have read these books very thoroughly and know every concept, you will be able to build your own app. Just experiment with some things, and begin with simple things. In that way you will gain more experience and build more advanced apps. The most important thing is patience. Put a lot of time and effort in it and everything will turn out great.

Have you had some experience with coding? Or have you already learned programing for iOs?




Thursday, October 18, 2012

How do you get a great idea?



There are lot of ways to get a good idea. I will explain some of them. It is something personal and of course there a lot of other things you can do.

-Brainstorming

I think everyone knows it. You have to think of a problem for example “How do you make public transport more attractive” and you search for some very creative solutions. Everything is possible. Especially in small groups, this is really productive. After you have written a lot of ideas, you should select the best ideas.

-discussion

Some people really like to discuss on several issues. Sometimes they will find an innovative solution for an issue. These solutions will come spontaneous. 

-find a valuable missing feature in an existing app

In that case, you can develop an app that has the same idea but with the feature you miss in the other app. Don’t make your app look like the other app but use a different lay-out in order that you won’t have problems with the developers from the original app. 

-get inspiration from an update

Some people get their inspiration from an update. For example, a lot of people have developed a public transport app. Since the release of iOs 6, Apple has rewritten the maps app and they allow the integration of public transport apps from third party developers.

-an idea that comes spontaneously

It is fantastic and undescribable to have that feeling. Maybe some of you have had that experience, others may have not. You just have to think of a problem and then think and think and think and may be it will come spontaneously, may be not. Some people have it when they awake. In that case, you have to write down the idea because you will forget it, if you fall back asleep.



Monday, October 15, 2012

Why do we make apps?


There are different reasons to make apps. For the big companies it is really clear. They want to generate revenue in order that they can make profit. But not everyone does it for the profit. Some people build apps to learn something new, to have a challenge, to make their dreams come true or maybe for the sports club.

You can see that there are a lot of reasons to build an app. But the most important thing about building an app is to have a great idea. Amazing ideas are innovative. They create something that a lot of people describe as usefull. You can use an old idea and improve it with some awesome new features or you can create something entirely new.

The big challenge is to translate our idea in an app that will stun everyone. If you are able to meet that challenge, you will be able to gain success. And everyone can! Even people like you and me. 

But first things first. Before you can make profit, you have to focus on creating your app. You have to love your idea before you can sell it. If you make your app amazing, others will love it too, and then you will make profit. 





Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The revolution in 2008


Apple released the iPhone 3G in 2008. They shipped it with iPhone OS 2.0.1, which is now called iOs. Older iPhone-users could update their device. The most important feature was the App store and the SDK (software development kit). Everyone has been able to develop iPhone apps since then. It was a enormous opportunity for the big companies but also for the small developers who are building applications in their bedroom. This is a part of the launch in 2008



It really was a gift for the small developers. They could charge a little bit of money for the effort they had put into their app and they had the ability to expose their app at enormous amount of customers. 


Furthermore, it changed the world of the mobile phones. The competitors followed Apple and released their own application store like Google Play, BlackBerry App World and the Marketplace. So it changed the way, we use our phones.

30 billion apps have been downloaded from the Apple Appstore since 2008 and there are 700,000 apps in the Apple Appstore. Competitors have also a large number but not as large as Apple’s.

Finally, I would mention one sentence that makes everything clear: “There is an app for that”. But imagine that there isn’t an app like the great idea you had, you should building that app, and maybe you will become rich and famous. Remember: even small developers can build and release apps.