App Store Review Guidelines (Third-party tools allowed)

Today, Apple posted formal guidelines for mobile app review/approval. The best part is that they have relaxed restrictions for third-party development tools. Up until now, the review process has been fairly subjective and undocumented. The good news is that the process is now documented and available here (must login with developer account). The bad news is that it is still fairly vague and worded in such a way that if they decide they don't like your app, it won't get approved.

In light of the shortcomings of this documentation, this appears to be a great step in the right direction for Apple. If you listen carefully, you will probably hear developers rejoicing everywhere. Only time will tell how this will all play out. For now you can move forward using development tools like Flash cs5 and mono-touch to create iPhone apps.

Getting Started with iPhone Development (for Windows Developers)

Everyone wants to write an iPhone app!

Many developers are used to using some great tools out there to put together applications quickly. iPhone development isn't easy but it certainly isn't impossible. Apple provides a good set of tools for free and like Linux tools that are free you get what you pay for. If you are used to Visual Studio or tools like Delphi it may seem like you are taking a step backward but remember that most of that feeling is because you are facing a steep learning curve. I suspect over time we will see even better tools. The tools that Apple provides are professional level but they aren't Visual Studio :-)

I will now describe a minimal environment you will need to get started with iPhone development.

1. MacMini - you will find this the easiest entry point. Unlike Windows systems you don't have to have the biggest hard drive and the most memory to have a good development environment. Remember the MacMini won't have a keyboard or mouse but a PC keyboard and mouse will work fine (you don't have to buy the Apple keyboard and mouse). It will have built in ethernet, built in wireless and a good graphics card (with VGA/DVI out).
   


2. Apple Developer ID - this is your entry point to the Apple developer community and your access to the free development tools.
   


3. Once you have your MacMini set up and your Apple Developer ID head to the Apple Developer site and go to the iPhone developer site and view the getting started docs and videos. There are some good ones over there. This will walk you through installing XCode (think Vidual Studio kind of) and the iPhone SDK.
   

I recommend using Safari - many of the Apple web pages have an annoying habit of not rendering nicely in other browsers so pick up a copy of Safari (it's free).