#1. Business of iPhone App Development
Many iPhone developers are not big companies, but rather just by themselves without a guy to manage advertising and finance. In Apress’ book, Business of iPhone App Development, it teaches you multiple ways of making profit and how to advertise apps correctly. The book does not just teach about advertising your app in the public, but also teaches about how to make money within the app, free or not. By showing many various ways that developers have already done it, you can generate your own way of making money through in-app ads like AdMob.
A lot of individual developers want to integrate Apple’s In-App Purchase into their apps, but may not know how. The book teaches how you integrate it and interact with the StoreKit framework. You can make money within your app without having ads in the app, but require the user to tap Buy Now, Confirm, which will deduct the tier amount for that product. Just like how Apple pays toward your bank account, they do the same, no PayPal, no check, just bank like usual.
The book also covers one majorly important part in the app, the website. Having a website for your app describes your app, gives screenshots, maybe even a weekly giveaway of a promo code, whatever you choose. They give examples of how other developers have their sites as well. Having a website for your app is not just to show off screenshots and give a description, users can find those in iTunes, but having a website promotes your app much further. Users can see everything in more detail, and the better it looks, the better the chance of an app purchase. If you don’t want to get a website, social sites are another option for promoting them. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc…
Book Details:
Website – http://apress.com/book/view/1430227338
Price – Paperback $29.99 | eBook $20.99
#2. iPhone User Interface Design Projects
Guessing by the title, you would think that the book covers mostly about creating good graphics using programs like Photoshop, or GIMP or other image programs, but it teaches more. It doesn’t teach on creating graphics, but teaches on laying out the interface, ways of using code to design your interface, and even creating stunning effects when the user taps the screen, or breats a level. User interface designs are not just about how the app looks, it’s about what it does and how it is memory efficient. Creating good graphics is a starting point, but creating the effects and smoothness of the animations is the next big step.
Just gonna shout a fact. Did you know that most developers can’t design good graphics, so they hire professional designers? Very important, screenshots are also the first thing most people look at first in the App Store. When users see stunning graphics and effects, they’ll check the description, then consider it. Otherwise, no good graphics might make them leave right away.
Like the other books I’ve reviewed, this one gives many, many examples of other developers’ designs. One other way the book explains is customizing elements from ther UIKit. It teaches going from dull to amazing through many various image tips and coding tips. Creating smooth animations with Core Animation and using many different fonts from the SDK.
Book Details:
Website – http://apress.com/book/view/1430223596
Price – Paperback $39.99 | eBook $27.99
#3. Building iPhone OS Accessories
There are many different apps out there that interact with accessories made specifically for that app, like Square and as mentioned in the book. Making apps that interact with the accessory makes the app stand out from the others depending on what the accessory does. Building iPhone OS Accessories teaches you not only how to interact with accessories, but also teaches how to make them. Making your own accessories and using an app to interact with it can really make you some profit if you make a gooddesign and a good accessory.
Before I start talking about the book, note that I won’t be making an accessory anytime soon due to it’s process, all the tools, & soldering. The book will definitely come in handy when I’m older, then I can work on these things and be a little bit smarter to fit everything together. The book intros into showing many different accessory logic boards, including the iPhone’s. Then lists many diagrams on how the accessory interacts with the app and vice-versa, as well as showing little snippetes of the EA framework.
The app used is a pong game for the tutorial, and an accessory with a knob, and when it’s twisted, the paddle in the app moves accordingly to the knobs position. The book teaches everything from the Made for iPod program, to the iPhone controllers, to building accessories, to making apps to interact, and designing it’s cover.
Book Details:
Website – http://apress.com/book/view/9781430229315
Price – Paperback $59.99 | eBook $41.99
The book is in six parts, each being a different category for the apps it has in the book. One part, part one, is Innovating Beyond Apple’s Design Standards, While Maintaining Apple’s Logic For Consistency, Clarity, and Usability, which is the part Tweetie and Facebook falls under. Part one talks about how these apps envision the iPhone’s UI and how they are both very different apps. The whole book talks mostly about how much these apps went into detail and change the way that the UI looks and feels, and makes the interface more user-friendly.
