4 ms·

Nobody should work for months on an iPhone app. The platform is not friendly to that style of app. Work for weeks, launch and test.

CamperBob 17y ago
Counterpoint: an iPhone has about the same computing power as the first-gen Xbox. People will eventually put a commensurate amount of development effort into it, and you will have to compete with them.
- maxklein 17y ago
  Yes, but if you had been releasign quickly, by now you know your consumers, you have a mailing list, you know what they want, and you can add your snazzy graphics for an existent userbase. Work for months AFTER you have tested your concept and people like what they see. Because if you spend months and release to the great app store silence, it will break you faster than a 5 ton pin would break a camels back.
- mattmaroon 17y ago
  The problem isn't the iPhone's specs, it's the distribution network.
  - CamperBob 17y ago
    It would be a grievous mistake to assume that the current limitations of the distribution network will remain in place forever.
    - jfarmer 17y ago
      So? We're talking about building iPhones apps today, not two years from now.
RyanMcGreal 17y ago
> Work for weeks, launch and test. I don't know how friendly the platform is for that approach, either. Fast iteration works better when you don't have the bottleneck of app store reviewers.
- maxklein 17y ago
  App store review at the moment takes about 3 days. And even when it took 2 weeks, this is not a big problem. Iterating faster than two weeks would be annoying to your users - imaging have to constantly sync a new app every second day, and new bugs being introduced and so on. The two week review period is good for users.
  - RyanMcGreal 17y ago
    Good point. I guess I still default to comparing iPhone apps with web apps, on which you can iterate as fast as you want as long as the changes aren't disruptive to existing user work flows.
visakhcr 17y ago
Agreed. On the lighter side, there is a chance that Apple might release some other gadget and people will go after it if you are going to take months to release an app for iphone ;)

CamperBob 17y ago

Counterpoint: an iPhone has about the same computing power as the first-gen Xbox. People will eventually put a commensurate amount of development effort into it, and you will have to compete with them.

maxklein 17y ago
Yes, but if you had been releasign quickly, by now you know your consumers, you have a mailing list, you know what they want, and you can add your snazzy graphics for an existent userbase. Work for months AFTER you have tested your concept and people like what they see. Because if you spend months and release to the great app store silence, it will break you faster than a 5 ton pin would break a camels back.
mattmaroon 17y ago
The problem isn't the iPhone's specs, it's the distribution network.
- CamperBob 17y ago
  It would be a grievous mistake to assume that the current limitations of the distribution network will remain in place forever.
  - jfarmer 17y ago
    So? We're talking about building iPhones apps today, not two years from now.

RyanMcGreal 17y ago

> Work for weeks, launch and test. I don't know how friendly the platform is for that approach, either. Fast iteration works better when you don't have the bottleneck of app store reviewers.

maxklein 17y ago
App store review at the moment takes about 3 days. And even when it took 2 weeks, this is not a big problem. Iterating faster than two weeks would be annoying to your users - imaging have to constantly sync a new app every second day, and new bugs being introduced and so on. The two week review period is good for users.
- RyanMcGreal 17y ago
  Good point. I guess I still default to comparing iPhone apps with web apps, on which you can iterate as fast as you want as long as the changes aren't disruptive to existing user work flows.

visakhcr 17y ago

Agreed. On the lighter side, there is a chance that Apple might release some other gadget and people will go after it if you are going to take months to release an app for iphone ;)