Creating iPad Apps
Important Copyright Notice This Microsoft Word Version of this eBook is for your use only as a direct customer of Seven Fourteen Inc. and Source Code Gold Mine! You may edit it in any way that you wish including but not limited to changing the title or adding or subtracting content. You then need to re-save it as a PDF before you distribute it. Before you edit and resave this document as a PDF make sure you remove this cover page so it does not appear in your PDF version that you distribute to your customers.
www.webbzo.com
2 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
Creating iPad Apps The Rush is On! How to Create Your Own iPad App and Get it Selling Fast!
3 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
TABLE OF CONTENTS
4 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
A TIME OF GREAT OPPORTUNITY
Earlier this year, Apple unveiled a new product that took the web by storm. As most of you already know, that product was the iPad, a specialized mobile computing device built around the same successful “App Store” that drives the iPhone and iPod Touch. Users of the iPad use built-in “apps” (short for application) to perform tasks such as browsing the internet, composing documents, sending and receiving email, and so on. The real draw for most users, however, is the availability of hundreds of thousands of specialized applications that can be acquired for free or purchased from Apple’s online “App Store”. These apps are the core of the iPhone and iPad user experience, and are as diverse as the end users they’re designed to appeal to. Some apps help users manage their social contacts, look up restaurant reviews, or learn more about the world around them. Others are designed simply to make the iPad emit a farting noise, or create the effect of a glass of beer being chugged. They all have one key element in common, however:
5 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
They all represent a highly lucrative opportunity for the enterprising developer.
A PRE-ESTABLISHED CUSTOMER BASE Apple’s App Store on the iPhone has proven to be an unqualified success. Since the store’s inception, the concept of the “app” has grown to overtake mobile computing, inspiring the creation of several competing devices and platforms built on the same technology. Despite that, Apple and their devices such as the iPhone and iPad still account for the majority of smartphone and mobile computing devices sold in world. The numbers of apps available in the store has grown from just a few hundred in the beginning, to more than a quarter million unique apps that have generated more than 5 billion downloads worldwide. What’s interesting about the iPad, however, is that it seamlessly runs all old iPhone apps. That means that it’s built to easily integrate with the pre-existing App Store that has already proven to be such a success and that attracts such a huge amount of user traffic every day. Users who are coming to the iPad are often already familiarized with the iPhone and the App Store, which means they’re already familiar with, and excited about, the world of apps. In other words, the customer base for selling iPad apps is already in place, even though the device has only been available for a few short months. Whereas those who developed apps early on for the iPhone had to struggle to get the content and distribution method recognized, those 6 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
who are looking now to develop early content for the iPad will be able to enjoy a wide audience with a built in distribution method that just so happens to be one of the most popular online marketplaces in decades.
THE IMPORTANCE OF STRIKING EARLY Striking early, however, is critically important for those who hope to profit by developing for the iPad. To understand why, let’s take a look back at the evolution of the iPhone. In the beginning, the App Store took some time to gain traction. Once it did, however, there was something of a “gold rush” to develop lucrative apps for the system. Game developers in particular were excited about the opportunity to cheaply develop games and then sell them for 10 to 20 dollars apiece (nearly all profit). Over time, however, these high prices could not sustain themselves, and users saw the overall price of apps getting lower and lower, to the point where the average price for an app is now about 99 cents. What does this mean to the developer? Obviously, while people still make tons of money developing for the iPhone, the most profitable time to be a developer was in the early stages of the product, before the marketplace was saturated with thousands of competing apps. Consider it this way. The people who are buying iPads are for the most part already familiar with the App system and how it works. Apps are the very reason they’re buying an iPad in the first place. Consequently, they will be excitedly looking to download and buy new apps as soon as they acquire their new toys. People will, for a period of time, actively want to be sold
7 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps apps. During this time, one can strike and make a name for oneself as a developer of quality apps. Moreover, with more chance of being seen early on, any submission to the App Store stands a greater chance of becoming a hit.
Therefore, the iPad developer who wants to profit from this business had better get started right away! Fortunately, that’s exactly what this book was created to do – help you get started, and succeed, at creating and selling iPad apps. To that end, it’s divided into several sections. First, we’ll take a look at the iPad itself from a hardware and software perspective. Once you know how the iPad works and what its limitations are, you’ll be able to brainstorm new ideas for apps that take advantage of those specifications in a unique and entertaining way. Then, we’ll look at Apple’s review process and learn how to assemble a team, design and blueprint a project, and then carry that project through to completion with this review process in mind. With this method, you can more easily assure that your creation will be approved by Apple for inclusion in their marketplace. After that, we’ll cover some more abstract topics such as how to market your app, different ways to generate income from your apps, and in general how to get the most out of this opportunity. So, sit back, relax, and open your mind up to a world of exciting opportunity: the world of creating and developing apps for the Apple iPad!
8 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
9 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
2 GETTING FAMILIAR WITH THE IPAD
The field of software development has long been rather insular, with huge barriers to entry that prevented entry to all but the most dedicated producers and most knowledgeable programmers. No longer is this the case. Apple’s mobile computing devices have become such an ubiquitous feature of the information and social networking landscape that most users already seem to have an understanding of the devices and how they function. That said, vague ideas are not enough for the successful developer. The developer who truly wants to maximize the potential of his or her applications will seek to find out as much about the iPad as well, to understand its design from the inside out, and to know what it’s capable of (and what it’s not capable of) from the perspective of its hardware specifications. Now, it’s not necessary to be a computer science major here. There’s no need to know what a transistor is or how a microchip works. All that’s important is knowing what the iPad has to offer, so one can make apps that take advantage of the iPad’s unique properties.
10 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
In the following section, we’ll break down the iPad and examine several of its most unique and intriguing features. Then, based on what we’ve learned, we’ll attempt to brainstorm some concepts for apps that utilize the iPad well and provide an experience that users will want to pay for and talk about.
IPAD HARDWARE FEATURES When one first looks at the iPad, it’s like looking at a giant iPhone. In many respects, that’s exactly what it is. To be sure, the iPad doesn’t function like a standard tablet computer, and it doesn’t run a fully featured operating system the way a laptop or netbook does. It is designed and built almost exclusively for the ability to download and use apps. With this in mind, let’s look at some of the features offered by this novel device.
Touch Screen The first thing that users tend to notice is the iPad’s giant touch screen. This screen dominates the entire front face of the device, and at first glance is the only means of interacting with the machine. There are four buttons on the exterior shell of the iPad but for the most part, users are invited to interact by means of the touch screen. Apps are run by tapping icons on the screen, pages are scrolled by sliding one’s finger across an appropriate icon or section of the screen. This intuitive user interface is one of Apple’s biggest selling points, and great care should be paid to preserving its simplicity and function. It’s worth noting that the screen displays a graphical resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels, and can display old iPhone apps in either their original native resolution or scaled up to occupy the larger iPad screen.
11 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
Changing Orientation The iPad comes equipped with built-in sensors that can determine the way you’re holding the device, either in a landscape or portrait orientation, and then display the on-screen content accordingly. In other words, suppose you were looking at a widescreen movie but holding the device vertically. You would have a lot of black space at the top and bottom of the picture in order to preserve the aspect ratio of the film. Turn the device on its side however, and it’s like watching a wide screen television – the image expands to fill the screen. Likewise, when reading content, one might prefer to user the portrait orientation, so that page shape and size is more similar to traditional printed media. Overall, there are four orientations through which the iPad can be viewed; portrait left and right, and landscape left and right. One of the four buttons on the surface of the device is intended to lock this functionality, so that’s always a possibility. Keep this changing orientation in mind when planning your apps.
WiFi and 3G Connectivity Naturally, the iPad has the ability to connect to the internet. This is how one browses the web, uses email, or most importantly, accesses and downloads apps. Users of the iPad can connect through basic WiFi connectivity in the same way that laptop users would, but those with the slightly more costly 3G model also have the option of connecting to the internet via the 3G standard. This will allow for wider coverage for most users, as it allows the iPad to connect most anywhere that you could use your mobile phone. Apps have the ability to call online content, so this is an important feature to keep in mind.
Speakers and Microphone Because the iPad is built around the enjoyment of apps and media, it had to have a sound system in order to develop a true multimedia experience. While there’s an option to connect other speakers or
12 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps headphones through a jack on the edge of the device, the iPad also comes equipped with two integrated speakers and a built-in microphone. While at first this might not seem so unique, bear in mind all the possibilities that exist for using the speakers and microphone to aurally interact with users of your app.
Light Sensors One of the most common problems for devices like the iPad and laptops in general is that their screens can sometimes be hard to view depending on the lighting conditions that one finds oneself in. The iPad, however, has taken steps to overcome this drawback by including a built-in light sensor that automatically adjusts for the user’s ambient light and then alters the screen’s brightness and contrast accordingly. While this is convenient, it also represents intriguing opportunities for app developers.
Having covered the more unique features, we should also take a quick peek under the hood to determine the basic hardware specifications for the iPad. It uses a 1GHz processor, and sports 256mb of RAM. Hard drive sizes vary with the price tag and come in 16, 32, and 64 gig models. While those individuals used to working with high powered personal computers might find those numbers a bit on the low side, bear in mind that the iPad is a different creature entirely, and doesn’t have to deal with the typical bloat and lag that accompanies a fullyfeatured operating system. As such, it can utilize its resources more efficiently. Be aware, however, of these hard-coded limitations when planning your app.
13 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
POTENTIAL APP IDEAS Before you can go anywhere with your app, you’ll have to have an idea. Ultimately, that’s where it all begins, and the quality of your finished product, as well as its financial success, is most dependent upon the quality of this original idea. So take your time brainstorming, and try to figure out something that really takes advantage of the unique properties of the iPad. Here are just a few basic suggestions to get you started: Think in terms of what makes the iPad unique. For example, the iPad has a built-in light sensor. Why not create a game wherein you fight vampires and you have to use real world light sources in order to beat them? Or how about an app where you tend a virtual garden and your plants grow in accordance with the amount of “sunlight” they receive? The iPad has a large screen whereupon elements can be controlled by touch for an intuitive user experience. Why not a marginalia app where you can load up documents and scribble notes in the margins, or a “notepad” that actually lets you write notes on the surface of your screen as you would with a pen? Maybe you could create a simple novelty app where you use your fingertip as shears to prune a bonsai tree? The iPad is motion-sensitive, just like the iPhone. Remember those games where you used to have to tilt a board to roll a little metal ball around obstacles and get it to drop into a hole? You could code
14 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
something similar on the iPad. You could create an app that mimics an Etch-a-Sketch. You could turn the iPad screen into sand and allow users to rake “Zen garden” patterns into the grains (double-tap to place a rock). These are just some simple suggestions thought up after but a few moments reflection on the unique capabilities of the iPad. Any one of them, if properly presented and marketed, could be a success for any iPad developer. At the same time, they represent just a fraction of the possibilities that are out there for the truly courageous, adventurous, and creative developer to take advantage of. Before you go any further in your journey as a developer, try the following exercise: take some time alone and situate yourself somewhere comfortable, whether it’s in your study in your favorite chair, in the shower at home, or out hiking on a well-trod trail through the wonders of nature. Whatever gets your creative juices flowing. Now, ask yourself, what can you do to take advantage of these novel revolutions in computer interface technology? At this point in time, it’s important just to let your imagination roam free and easy, without restriction or criticism. Treat any idea that comes to you as if it has the potential to make a million dollars, and give it a fair shake before moving on to the next. The more often you do this, the more ideas you’re going to have, and soon one of them will jump out at you and you’ll know it’s “the one”. Now it’s time to get serious.
15 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
3 PLANNING YOUR APPLICATION
Even the simplest applications for the iPhone or iPad are hiding a very complex underlying structure. Programming of any sort is usually a very organized and systematic affair, so it’s vital that you start your excursion into app development off with a lot of thorough and in-depth planning. Remember that a mistake made at the planning stage might take nothing more than an eraser to fix, whereas a mistake not caught until the production stage can be much more costly and disruptive.
PLANNING FOR THE REVIEW PROCESS The reason planning is so important for typical programmers is because programs are complex multi-layered entities built up from a collection of functions, built around a usable interface. It’s very easy for something to go wrong when writing one, and taking care of bugs is a huge part of the effort involved with creating any program. Because the program will eventually undergo such an intense level of scrutiny, programmers generally like to get a better feel for the underlying structure of a program ahead of time by drafting a sound plan. That said, apps for the iPad have to undergo yet another type of scrutiny altogether. In addition to your bug testing, all apps created for 16 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
the iPad (or iPhone for that matter) must be submitted to a review process overseen by Apple. During this process, Apple will review your submission and make a determination, on the basis of predetermined criteria, whether or not your app is suitable for sale in their app store. If so, you’re good to go. If not, you’ll need to fix whatever problems they find before you can start selling any copies of your app. Given that this is the case, it pays to keep the review process in mind from the very beginning. Know that, before you can get anywhere, you have to please the people who are reviewing your app.
HOW LONG TO MAKE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION?
Because the review process is handled in-house by Apple, there are aspects of it that they’ve chosen not to make public knowledge. For the most part, one can infer some general guidelines that the reviewers are obviously going by, such as “no pornography”, but the actual specific details of the process can be something of a mystery. What is known, however, is that Apple reviews apps not just for content, but also for quality. They want submitted apps to meet a certain standard of professional quality before they’ll include it in the App Store. This means that in addition to being bug-free and functional, your app should have a polished and professional look about it, with clean text that’s free from any errors. Basically, you want to make a good impression. It was recently reported, however, that Apple receives an average of 8500 app submissions each and every week, and that a total of two employees oversee the entire approval process.
17 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
Yikes. Simple math tells us that that’s 4250 apps that each person has to review in a week’s time. All things considered, they’re going to be looking at your app for less than six minutes. That’s really not a lot of time at all to make a good first impression on a reviewer. That’s why it pays to give a lot of thought early on to exactly who is going to be doing the “creating” part of creating your app.
DIY VS OUTSOURCING One of the primary concerns that people have when they resolve to make money by creating iPad apps is how they’ll actually be doing the creating. To be fair, it does involve some computer programming, which can be difficult for someone who has no experience in the field at all. If you aren’t familiar with APIs, libraries, functions, objectoriented programming as a whole, then you would have a fairly steep learning curve ahead of you as you attempt to undertake the creation of an app. By the same token, if you don’t have a lot of experience creating computer graphics or sound files, you’ll also have some obstacles to overcome. Take comfort, though. Even if you can’t ever see yourself becoming an artist or a computer programmer, this is still something that you can make money at, because you will always have the option of enlisting other people to do that kind of work for you, via outsourcing. Whatever choice you make in the end, deciding what work needs to be done, and who will be doing it, is the very first step of planning a successful app.
18 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps PROGRAMMING
Programming experience would definitely be a plus should you decide that you want to try your hand at programming your iPad app yourself. If you’ve worked with C or C++ before, then you’ll probably have some degree of familiarity with object oriented programming languages, which is what iPad apps are built with. If, however, you haven’t done any programming since the old days of BASIC and other linear languages, then you may well have to consider your experience obsolete. Object oriented programming is an entirely different beast from linear programming, and mastery over one would not necessarily translate to mastery over the other. If you have no real experience in programming, then you could always undertake to learn the discipline. It may seem daunting, but others have done it before, and there’s no
reason you can’t do the
same provided that you’re committed
and patient enough. There
are countless resources available for
learning to program in C,
C++, and Objective-C, the languages
that are used in Apple’s
iPhone Software Development Kit.
Apple even has a host of
tutorials and instructive documents
available on their website,
in the developer’s section.
If you’re interested, head over to the developers section at http://developers.apple.com and register, it’s totally free. Then you can have access to the aforementioned help files, as well as the SDK itself. There’s no harm in downloading it, reading through a few of the tutorials and seeing if things start to click. Who knows, you may have
19 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
had the talent for programming all these years, and never knew about it until now. Later on, we’ll cover in detail how to register there for free and access these helpful tools.
20 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
GRAPHIC AND SOUND DESIGN
Programming is only one aspect of app development, however. Take a look at any successful app and you’ll see that it’s composed of images and often sounds. All the little logos and graphics, the pointers and icons that you see all over the screen when you use an app – consider that someone had to design those and create the graphics files themselves in a program like Photoshop. Depending upon the scope of your app, you may well end up needing a significant number of graphics in order to get the job done. Sound is a big part of apps, as well. In fact, some of the most popular iPhone apps of all time, such as iFart, are based entirely around the ability of the iPhone and iPad to generate sound. Plus, people enjoy sound because it gives your app a more immersive experience. If there’s a little sound as you click a button, or when a new window pops up, one feels more immediately connected to the experience. Sound helps draw your audience in. There are plenty of tools out there for creating your own graphics and sound, many of which can be downloaded for free. On the graphics side of things, GIMP is a useful program which many artists swear by. It replicates many of the higher-end functions of professional programs like Adobe Photoshop, but it remains free and open source. With it, you can produce professional looking graphics like those you see in the iPhone’s most popular apps. Audacity is but one example of a free program that you can use to create sound files for use in your app. Apple’s OS-X has useful software as well such as Paintbrush and
21 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
Garage Band. Feel free to check these or others like them out and see what you can come up with. Bear in mind this caveat, however: people demand good graphics and sound. Imagine that you’ve decided to make a game for the iPad. Imagine that your game involves a green-haired motorcyclist in a high speed chase along the highway at night. How will such a game look and feel? You could present the app with very basic graphics, a simplistic rendering of a motorcycle, a street, and other cars, and so on. The end result probably wouldn’t be very engaging, however. In that case, you’d have to rely entirely upon the game play itself to be the attraction. Unfortunately, since people most often preview apps by looking at screenshots, you may never have a chance for the game itself to make a good impression. Instead of this basic graphical representation, however, imagine that you were able to make the game with high quality graphics that draw the user in. Imagine abundant details such as wind whipping through the character’s green hair, plumes of exhaust as they accelerate, the glow of neon from surrounding buildings and street lights. Imagine an immersive sound experience with the roars of engines, the whirr of pursuing helicopters, and so on. This is what people pay to see and play! With high quality graphics and sound, you can cash in on the blockbuster mentality and your app will have a much better chance of competing against others like it. The real point here is that if you’re not an artist, sound engineer, or musician, you might want to think twice about handling this side of the
22 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
business yourself. Even if you can save money by doing the programming, graphics and sound yourself, ask yourself if you’re really the one for the job. If you think someone else could do it better than you, it might be time to consider bringing in someone else.
23 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
HIRING FREELANCERS
The internet is abundant with sites like elance.com which allow for users of the site to offer freelance work or apply for freelance work that others have listed. Such sites are godsends for individuals who have an idea that they think will make money, but which requires the services of a programmer, designer, or artist. One thing you might want to do is log on to one of these sites, head to the sections that deal with programming or software development, and take a look around. Occasionally, there are even sections that deal specifically with iPhone and iPad app development. Try to find listed jobs that are similar to what you’re planning on making and see what the winning bids are. This will give you some sense of how much you should be willing to pay in order to hire a competent and professional freelance programmer, artist, or musician. These sites aren’t the only way to acquire help, however. You can often go on places like craigslist and post about what you want to accomplish and what kind of freelancer you’re looking for. State your terms, and you should get replies from any party interested in working with you. Of course, if you’re going to be hiring a freelancer to cover part of the work on your app, you’re going to need to pay them. Most of the better freelancers work for a one-time fee and generally require half of the total fee upfront. If you have a budget that you can put towards the development of your app, then that’s great – you should be able to
24 ……………………………
Creating iPad Apps
afford decent help. Just remember that every penny you have to invest is a penny less profit, though. If you really need to conserve money, then you can always solicit help from freelancers in exchange for a share of future profits. The more established freelancers will usually be unwilling to work under such terms, but you might well attract the attention of an up and coming person who is just as talented and looking for a way to get their name and work out there. You can more easily attract talented people to projects with these kinds of payment terms if you have experience under your belt as a project manager or director, or can show some detailed plan that gives the freelancer some indication that you actually intend to finish the product one day and profit off of it. In the freelancing community, endless stories circulate about clients who wanted work done in exchange for future profits, only to never actually get around to profiting off the items in question. It’s just the same as if you were attempting to get a loan to start up a business; the bank would be more inclined to invest in you if you had a solid plan and seemed like a professional. So too will it be easier for you to convince talented freelancers to invest in your product if you seem like you have it together. The one drawback to this is that if your app becomes very popular, you might later wish you had simply made the investment of a onetime fee instead of promising away your future profits which turned out to be larger than you’d anticipated. There’s a gamble either way you go.
25 ……………………………