Photics: Revisions – iPhone App – Ready For Sale

photics-revisions-buy-appI was bracing myself for a long wait. On September 17, 2009, I submitted my first iPhone Application to the app store. I was restraining my enthusiasm, figuring that some small technicality would blight my success. I read some discouraging stories online. It seemed that it might be weeks before Apple approved my app. I was even planning to blog about the long waiting. Instead, I was surprised. Apple approved my app! I nailed it on the first shot!

Less than nine days after submitting Photics: Revisions to the app store, my app was published. :-)

Now don’t get me wrong. After experiencing Android development, I’m accustomed to instant publishing. It doesn’t work that way with Apple. It’s almost like hazing for developers…

You need a 57×57 pixels icon, and then you need a larger version of that icon – precisely 512×512 pixels. You’ll need a screenshot. Your app needs to adhere to Apple’s design guidelines. Digitally signing my application was also a little tricky. You’ll need to fill out the online forms. You’ll need to determine OS version compatibility. You’ll need to get a contract if you want to sell your app. There were lots of license agreements to read. Death by a thousand cuts… the process is so tedious, so grinding, so slow, that I often felt the urge to give up.

This is tremendously difficult for one person to master. You’ll need to a graphic designer and a code warrior. I was working on my app for one week straight, with only minimal breaks to eat, sleep and play some PS3 games. I’m not here to brag. I’m surprised that I got it done in one try.

Working with Android helped a lot. Even though they’re two different programming languages, they’re more similar than different. Sticking with a Webview app helped. There are still lots of things that I have to understand, on the Apple side of things. I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out reachability, orientation, external links and loading local files. I’m still stuck with a lot of the same problems. Yet, somehow, I managed to forge my first app.

Basically, I published a book for the iPhone / iPod Touch :)

3 thoughts on “Photics: Revisions – iPhone App – Ready For Sale”

  1. It’s my book. I wrote a science fiction novel and I converted it to work on the iPhone. The technology might have changed, but that’s basically what this is all about… telling a good story!

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