To develop applications for iPhone OS, you need a Mac OS X computer running the Xcode tools. Xcode is Apple’s suite of development tools that provide support for project management, code editing, building executables, source-level debugging, source-code repository management, performance tuning, and much more. At the center of this suite is the Xcode application itself, which provides the basic source-code development environment. Xcode is not the only tool you use though, and the following sections provide an introduction to the applications you use to create iPhone applications. You can find more about Xcode here You also want to use Interface Builder to make the actual visual look of the app. Interface Builder is the tool you use to assemble your application’s user interface visually. Using Interface Builder, you assemble your application’s window by dragging and dropping preconfigured components onto it. The components include standard system controls such as switches, text fields, and buttons, and also custom views to represent the views your application provides. After you’ve placed the components on the window’s surface, you can position them by dragging them around, configure their attributes using the inspector, and establish the relationships between those objects and your code. When your interface looks the way you want it, you save the contents to a nib file, which is a custom resource file format. You can find more about Interface Builder here

Building your own Iphone app can be a very scary thing if you are new to programming. Fortunately, it actually is not too scary, since there are hundreds of developers available that can program your app for you for a lot less money than you would expect. If you are someone that has absolutely no programming experience, or even has a lot of experience but just does not know the next step to take after building you app, then check out these 3 steps: 1. Idea – Your idea is obviously the most important part of your app. You can have an absolutely amazing app, that is good looking and easy to use, but if it is all based on a weak idea it is not gonna go anywhere. A good way to find solid ideas is to go look at other popular apps on the appstore, and read reviews on them. If there are a lot of people asking for a certain new feature then that would be a great place to start! Simply build upon that apps success and make it better. 2. Development – The last thing you want to do is ruin a great idea by making a glitchy, hard to use app. Reviewers will instantly downgrade it, and in turn take a lot of potential sales away from you. If you know a little programming, but not enough to truly feel confident with your finished product, then simply hop on twitter and look for a cheap Iphone app developer. Cheap meaning inexpensive. Developers are not going to give you a crappy product because they know your recommendation is going to give them future sales. 3. Marketing – The final step in your app creation is the marketing of it. A great looking app based on a solid idea should immediately get you some sales, but putting in some extra marketing effort you can really see your sales ramp up to 3 or 4 times more than what you would have gotten before. Set up a website for the app, and even a twitter account for it. Use Facebook and Myspace to spread it around. Let your friends get it for free so they can show it off to their other friends. You can a ton of things to help your app explode with spending a dime.

It is generally difficult to be granted patent for an idea. A specific way of implementing an idea that is totally different to everything before and not just your standard miniscule evolutionary step might have a chance. Even if you filed for a patent today it would be a long time before you were awarded one, if at all. Sure, you could put “Patent Pending” on your product, but that isn’t going to stop people from copying you – they know it’s a very long shot that you will be awarded a patent. The big question you need to think about is why exactly do you want to patent an app idea? If you want to patent it because of the fear it might be copied, then that is a good sign you have a great idea on your hands. Instead of wasting the time trying to patent it, just start getting it developed. If you can’t do it on your own, then outsource it. App developers are very affordable and can get your app ready much faster than you would be able. If your app is good enough to be copied it will probably sell enough to cover your developer fees within a few weeks. Be excited about having a great idea on your hands. Don’t mess around with patents when you can instead devote the time to creating the awesome app. We live in a fast-paced, digital world. If you have a good idea, get the ball rolling it. Don’t stall and try to prevent other people from doing it.