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DA5. Pros and Cons of Becoming an iOS Developer

Statement

Discuss the pros and cons of becoming an iOS developer. Include the challenges and opportunities for an iOS developer in your discussion post.

Solution

The profession of being a mobile applications developer is on high demand; regardless of the internal path, wether it is Android, IOS, Hybrid, or even cross-platform, the demand is high. However, the IOS platform is considered to be appealing and profitable for many reasons that will be discussed in this document.

Pros

  • The high demand for IOS developers as Apple’s devices are getting more popular and their sales are increasing every year (Turner, 2023), along with the users shift to use their mobile devices more than their computers, which generates more demand for new apps or more maintenance for existing apps.
  • The IOS platform is considered more secure, and the software just seamlessly integrates with the high-quality hardware, which makes both user and developer experience better.
  • The IOS platform is used not just to support mobile devices, but also to support other Apple devices such as Apple TV, Apple Watch, and even Mac computers. With the increasing demand for internet of things ans home automation, there are more opportunities for IOS developers to work on these devices (Gopinath, 2019).
  • The Apple store is considered to be more profitable than the Google Play store, as the IOS users are more likely to pay for apps than Android users and less competition as fewer applications are getting published every year (AppMySite, 2023).
  • Less fragmentation in the IOS versions and devices, as there are fewer device models and fewer IOS versions, which makes the development process easier and less time consuming.

Cons

  • The closed source nature of IOS makes it harder for deep customization and integration with other platforms.
  • The platform is a bit more expensive to develop for as the development tools only work on Mac computers, and the developer needs to pay a yearly fee to publish apps on the Apple store.
  • The need to learn new programming languages such as Swift which are not used in other platforms as well as the need to learn the Apple development tools and frameworks.
  • The Apple store review process is more strict than the Google Play store, which makes it harder to publish apps on the Apple store (DDI Development, 2022).

References