Have you ever tried to compile Xcode samples on a MacMini? I've had clients who do. White Macbooks (1k) are passable, but MBA is pretty much the real bottom line for any day to day development
Also, remember we're talking GLOBALLY. What's affordable to you may not be to random Indian programmer 7
2 things that make me think cost is the issue:
>Developer-market balance. Android is the one and only platform that is trilaterally adopted by developers across all three major continents active in application
development - Europe, North America and Asia. On all other platforms, there is an
imbalance of developer supply and market demand across the globe. iOS is lagging in
developer mindshare in Asia while BlackBerry developers are almost completely lacking in Europe. The traditional sweet spot for Java developers has moved out of Europe to
emerging markets, with 42% more respondents coming from Asia, Africa and South
America. Flash Lite has weak supply in South East Asia where the platform can deliver
best-in-class experiences on mass-market phones
And the fact you're highly likely to make little more than 700 back:
> In the gold rush to the applications economy, not everyone is making
money. About a third of respondents make less than $1,000 USD per application in
total, which is loss-making given that an application often takes months to develop
> Have you ever tried to compile Xcode samples on a MacMini?
Yes, I have been doing it on a four year old, Core Duo one for the whole three years since the iOS SDK became available and have had zero compilation performance issues. Keep in mind that the vast majority of iOS applications are laughably small compared to desktop apps.
I'm not disputing that a Mini is still too costly for many, but I think it is unfair to exclude it as development machine.
Mac OS 10.7 (Lion) is virtualizable. I'm sure someone will build a rack and offer cloud-based Lion accounts for developers that can be remoted into 24/7 so long as you have internet access.
I'm a fulltime iOS developer. Standing there waiting for it to compile was a considerable length affair (multiple minutes)
2-screen iPhone apps with no media might compile quick enough, but development of the type of apps which make money that would be a huge productivity suck.
Today's Mac mini's are more than powerful enough to write code on. But the gist of your argument seems to be that the cost of buying a mac seems to be a big barrier to entry in some markets.
While I would agree with that to some degree, the fact that there is over 400k apps in the appstore tells me that the barrier is either non existent or a lot lower than people are making it out to be.
Furthermore, there are other costs besides the computer itself when developing for iOS. So if the developer isn't making enough money to cover all of those costs, the that developer needs to try something else to make money.
Which isn't to say "not to do iOS development" but to find out why their app isn't selling and adjust. The "build it and they will come" is a fallacy and many developers fall into that trap.
> the fact that there is over 400k apps in the appstore tells me that the barrier is either non existent or a lot lower than people are making it out to be.
Barriers leading to higher numbers of hobby users trying android app dev than iOS, which is the title of the HN post.
There are more pros on iOS and Win7Phone from the survey (both numerically and percentage wise).
I agree with the gist of your statement, but a if an Air is good enough for iOS development (and there are a few blog posts out there that say it is), then a baseline Mini will be fine.
That might make it work. I think that's the big differential between MBA and mini. I'd be curious to see that build some various app types.
I don't know of anyone putting that forth as the low cost solution (nor is that sort of change out easy for someone who's really terrified to break their $700 computer and not used to fiddling with that stuff).
Current Mac Mini's solder the cable to the drive and it's not swappable. (It's like the new iMac's drives -- which have apple specific firmware and thermal systems, but worse.)
I stand correct. My friend went to an Apple certified tech to get her laptop HD swapped with her Mac Mini HD, because they wanted more of their music on the laptop because they traveled often, and the Apple tech couldn't do it. Issue with the Mac Mini and how it makes the HD a non-user servicable part.
Take the class of devs who, in their spare time, want to learn mobile programming. If they don't have a Mac, their choices tonight after work are to 1) sit down on their own familiar computer right now and start Android dev, or 2) go buy a Mac and a dev account and get familiar with that and start iOS dev. Paying $800+ for option 2 doesn't exactly sweeten the deal.
A modest app in the store will pay back the costs of the hardware, even though it probably won't pay for your time. Doing iOS work for hire will pay for your time, however.
So people should do what they want, but it's easy to see why Android would be the favorite of new casual mobile devs, many (or most?) of whom don't have Macs.
Good points.. it would be the same for a person who wants to get into programming but doesn't own a computer.. they still have to get the cash from somewhere to buy the equipment.
Many years ago, I was in this exact situation. I planned accordingly and saved until I could buy a cheaply made desktop and taught myself how to code.
A half decent app with only thousands of users might get that back in maybe 6 months.
I know I did and I wrote a very niche app and did no promotion what so ever. I have not made much on my app but it has paid for a couple of gadgets so far and I am still making a (very) little bit every month.
Lots of people aren't writing that. They don't have the skills to write that on Android either. But they're still counted in that survey as "Android Developers", yielding that HN title.
Lots of people aren't writing apps for third parties. As a third party dev myself, it's significantly easier to justify costs (even to people like my wife) than if I did self-published apps that were hobbling along
That's true.. I just find that owning a mac to be in the cost of doing business. That just maybe outside of the means of the average hobbyist developer.
I suspect a lot of these people are in the OSS hacker demographic (in my mind this means a college student running linux with lots of free time), in which case, why would you bother getting a Mac?
It appears lots of Android devs are exactly in the category you're talking about:
On experience of developers:
We can also quantify the signs of Apple’s allure towards experienced PC and Internet
developers, since the iOS platform attracts significantly more developers with sevenplus years PC/Internet experience, compared to other platforms. This confirms that
experienced software developers are moving into mobile, using iOS as an entry
platform, in what we believe is driven by the sudden rise in demand for developer
talent, especially in North America.
Since launching in late 2010, Windows Phone 7 has done pretty well in attracting
seasoned developers. We see experienced mobile developers coming to Windows
Phone, with a significant bias of current Windows Phone developers having between
three and six years of mobile experience - an indication that Microsoft’s strategy to tap
into PC and Xbox developer segments is paying of
