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.
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.