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The only other major smartphone is iOS, Not all that interested in spending $400 minimum on a phone(Or take my chances with something used), for something I c
by eternityforest 5y ago
The only other major smartphone is iOS,
Not all that interested in spending $400 minimum on a phone(Or take my chances with something used), for something I can't develop for without paying even more money, that only allows WebKit based browsers, and doesn't use USB-C.
- scarface74 5y ago$99 a year to release an app is going to break the bank?
- eternityforest 5y agoFor someone who is not a professional app developer it can. That's insanely expensive for a FOSS side project, if you're in embedded and controls and don't do any pro apps.
- scarface74 5y agoBut that “not a professional app developer” has to be able to afford a decent computer to run one of the god awful Java IDEs, the resource intensive Android emulators, a phone, internet access etc. If it’s an open source project that’s not going to be on the App Store, you can get XCode for free to run an app on your own device and give others the source code.
- pmontra 5y agoYou also have to buy a Mac. The Windows or Linux computer you already have won't run XCode. That's way more than 99 dollars.
- eternityforest 5y agoNobody except other maybe devs will even consider that much trouble. Especially when compiling something yourself is not really more secure than downloading a binary(Unless you literally read the entire source code first). Almost any modern app will run fine on an i5, 16GB or so GB of RAM, and an SSD. Nowhere near macbook costs. You need something of about that tier for any pro development with any kind of modern tools, and there are iPhones out there that cost more than a decent laptop. Plus, software resource demands seem to have leveled off. A Linux laptop is quite possibly going to be perfectly good for like 12 years.
- scarface74 5y agoYes and there are also iPhones that cost $399… Again, if you can afford a developer setup, $99/year is not a showstopper.
- eternityforest 5y ago$399 is still about 2x the cost of my phone, and a little under 1/2 the price of a laptop. Not every developer works for FAANG . Some jobs rely heavily on in person work. And not everyone can drive. If you're making effectively minimum wage, $99 is a big deal. Especially when Apple doesn't really seem to offer that much of anything aside from privacy(and mdns support) Android is great now, and iOS is way too locked down.
- scarface74 5y agoYes because it takes a “FAANG developer” to afford an iPhone. Does 60% of the US population work for a FAANG? How many developers are making “minimum wage”?
- eternityforest 5y agoI'm not sure why that 60% uses Apple, but as far as I can tell it's mostly 5 overlapping types. The rich, people in a Mac dominated career, those who want to look rich, those who care much more about privacy than an average person, and people who sometimes think the world would be better if computers didn't exist.
- scarface74 5y agoCould it possibly be that people see it as a better product? 60% of the US population isn’t “rich”. Even when I was selling cell phones back in 1996 at Radio Shack, the unsubsidized price of a cell phone was $300. How much of a “status” is it to have something that 60% of the population has?