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iPhone SDK to require Mac OS X?

updated 09:15 am EST, Thu March 6, 2008

iPhone SDK Mac OS-only?


More details of Apple's iPhone SDK announcement, scheduled today for 10AM Pacific time and 1PM Eastern, have allegedly leaked through anonymous sources. It is indicated that although the iPhone can be used on both Macs and PCs, developers will only be able to acquire the SDK for Mac OS X, leaving Windows developers stranded. The development environment is in fact said to be an enhanced variant of Xcode.

Xcode is included free with every copy of Mac OS X, and includes elements such as a graphical workbench, a debugger and a multiplatform GCC compiler. The software is also updated for free through the Apple Developer Connection, and it is believed that the iPhone SDK may be supported in the same way as well. Developers would only need to be members of the ADC program to obtain the iPhone kit.

Echoing Apple CEO Steve Jobs' suggestions of improved gaming, it is rumored that Electronic Arts and Gameloft will be among the first major companies to produce native iPhone titles. The two are already dominant in the area of standard iPod games, often releasing several titles per month.


by MacNN Staff

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iPod, iPhone, iPod touch, developer, Mac OS X, SDK, Apple

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  1. marmotton

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2004

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    03/06, 09:26am | report spam | Reply |

    But of course

    Is that a surprise, really?

    XCode is a great development environment and the only one I know that supports Cocoa, the preferred toolkit for developing on OSX, which is the iPhone OS.

    So, duh, the iPhone SDK will only run on OSX.

    IF that was not teh case, then it would mean that Apple would have developed XCode for Windows, which would be a HUGE deal.

  1. nemanirc

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Mar 2000

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    03/06, 09:34am | report spam | Reply |

    Windows developers

    "leaving Windows developers stranded" … or, leaving them to go pick up a Mac mini and KVM switch.

  1. mr.mouse

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    Joined: Feb 2008

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    03/06, 09:38am | report spam | Reply |

    No surprise

    As the iPhone runs OS X, that would mean the SDK is for OS X, and OS X development tools run on OS X (called XCode). I have Microsoft Dev tools for Windows Mobile and they required Microsoft Windows to run, which is fair enough.

    I suspect that most iPhone developers will already be OS X developers and therefore have Macs, so I don't think that this is an issue at all.

  1. Glasspusher

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    Joined: Oct 2000

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    03/06, 09:55am | report spam | Reply |

    ha ha

    Guess it sucks to be a windows box, again. What's the big deal? Do people think that you can get a development environment for windows mobile for a mac?

  1. Grrr

    Grizzled Veteran

    Joined: Jun 2001

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    03/06, 09:55am | report spam | Reply |

    Juvenile journalism

    Well, does it require OS X, or doesn't it? This is Macnn, not Macrumors.com. Don't stick question marks at the end of a news headline posting! Either you guys have news to post, or you don't. Posting guesses just shows what an incompetent bunch of wannabe tech journalists you kids really are.

  1. macmad

    Mac Enthusiast

    Joined: Dec 2000

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    03/06, 10:02am | report spam | Reply |

    juvenile journalism?

    so read another news site if it bothers you that much.

  1. ViktorCode

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    Joined: Jan 2006

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    03/06, 10:09am | report spam | Reply |

    in other news...

    .... Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 used to develop latest Windows Mobile applications, runs only on Windows machine, leaving Mac and Linux developers stranded.

  1. Guest

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 1999

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    03/06, 10:44am | report spam | Reply |

    Stranded?

    Yeah, I'd say 'stranded' is a bit strong.

    'Enlightened' might be better, after they're finally pushed into seeing what mac development can be like.

    It was sort of obvious that if there was going to be any kind of test capability, like a virtual iPhone, it was going to be running on a Mac, not a virtual copy of OSX running in windows...

  1. Roger@MacNN

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2008

    +2
    03/06, 11:05am | report spam | Reply |

    re: stranded?

    Isn't it always better when developers have a choice of platform?

  1. vasic

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    Joined: May 2005

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    03/06, 11:32am | report spam | Reply |

    confused grrrr

    To grrrr:

    You seem to be a bit confused about what constitutes news. It is very clear from the article that MacNN is REPORTING a leak from a confidential source that SDK will only run on Mac OSX. Very similar to what Woodward and Bernstein did, oh some thirty-forty years ago about a break-in into offices of some political party, in Washington DC (I believe the office building name was Watergate). Not to compare the significance of the two (obviously), but the news reporting principles are the same. And your reaction was rude.

    While it is pretty obvious to everyone out there that this is expected (why would Apple waste resources on developing Windows version of SDK?), this is important for another reason. There will be a large number of developers anxious to create apps for the iPhone, as the platform is rapidly becoming the dominant player in the smartphone market space. They will all have to buy a Mac. It may be a Mac Mini, but I can easily see many more iMacs getting sold to heretofore Windows-only developers.

    Nice extra addition to the bottom line for Apple.

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