iPhone App Development – Could You Do It?

Posted by James on Nov 13, 2011 in Apple, Technology | 2 comments

iPhone app development seems like a difficult thing todo, but is it really? With $millions being made in mobile applications development we thought we should find out how to make an app.

We reported the other day that the game that made it’s name on the iPhone, Angry Birds, has now hit 1/2 billion downloads.

Now the game is cheap, being an iPhone app, at less than a $1 (and could be considered an absolute bargain when you think how much console & PC games of a similar standard are), but at 1/2 billion downloads it’s easy to do the maths & come up with a figure of $kerching$.

Yes, there is a free version but there are also upgrade options & cross selling going on so which ever way you slice it it’s good business. The market agrees too, valuing the parent company at about $1 billion.

So, is it possible for mere mortals to enter this lucrative market? Can someone without ninja programming skills learn how to do it?

iPhone App Development without Programming?

We looked around locally for a course that might be able to do just that but the answer was always the same. All the courses we have checked out, including classroom led courses and books, all state that you have to have programming experience before you even start thinking about iPhone app development.

“iPhone app development? You need to know programming mate.” as one helpful instructor put it.

Then we came across Mike on the rather less local internet, he told us that it is possible and he teaches people just how todo iPhone app development the easy way. We were curious to find out more.

How to Make an App

Mike is a developer and in his presentation video he shows his developer account paid out $63,896 in September 2010 as well as $80 a day in earnings from ads within his apps.

Mike says that iPhone app development and mobile app development in general doesn’t have to be as complicated as you think. He started with no programming experience,

” [iPhone app development courses] assume you are at least expert in C++ before you start learning XCode and other iphone development stuff. I decided to change this approach completely.

You know I had no programming skills at all when I started out so I don’t expect you to know anything about programming. You don’t have to have any technical knowledge. If you can operate your iPhone and basic computer software – that’s all we need to start.”

Mike says that his iPhone app development course starts off with the basics and general app development. This moves on to specific iPhone app development tools and the ‘cheating’ tips and tricks that cut down development time and cuts out the need for any serious programming skills. There are even details for iphone development on windows.

In the final part of the course there are specifics about marketing your newly created app, probably the most important area that usually gets overlooked by most traditional courses. After all, if no one knows your app exists, how are you supposed to make your money?

There is also a useful case study of a space invaders game that Mike created. You may want to check the copyright on that one though Mike!

One of Mike’s customers said of his training course,

“Hey mike! You know I had no programming skills but I have been dreaming about creating my game since childhood! Your course was an eye opener for me! i not only created my first game but sold over 2500 copies last month!! thanks a lot man!

Hans, Germany”

A $1 trial of his training course is available here.

The truth is that if you wanted to create something as polished as Angry Birds you will need some serious skills and a decent sized developer team.

But other iphone apps are not so complicated & could be the result of following a course such as Mikes. And at the end of the day, even Angry Birds is a very simple concept wrapped in some pretty packaging.

Overall it is an intriguing prospect, iPhone app development without being a programmer or graphics designer. Now where did I put that game design that I did when I was 13?