Apple’s unveiling of iOS 7 at WWDC this week has kicked off the countdown to a release date this fall. When iOS 7 launches, there will be some new opportunities for apps to set themselves apart. Apps that have not been updated to the new paradigms for iOS 7 will begin to show their age. A similar scenario presented itself when the iPhone 5 was released with a new screen form factor. Remember how it was with apps that weren’t updated to fully support the iPhone 5 screen size? Heck, there’s still apps out there that haven’t been updated. Well that was a much simpler change in the ecosystem and generally much easier to adopt than the overhaul that iOS 7 introduces.

If you’re an app developer with apps in the App Store, here’s your opportunity to overhaul to support iOS 7 before the launch and really make your apps stand out. It’s not going to be easy, as you will most likely have to maintain support for at least iOS 6 as your users make the transition, but the potential to delight a new set of users on iOS 7 will be a great opportunity. Apps that work well in both iOS 7 and previous versions of iOS will stand out among peers.

If you’re developing a new app for the App Store, perhaps you can target your development for iOS 7 and simply abandon support for previous versions of iOS. That will certainly simplify your development process and provide a nice user experience and draw for users on iOS 7, but prevent you from getting your apps in iOS 6 users hands. At the keynote on Monday, Apple announced that over 93% of iOS devices are currently on iOS 6. It seems with each release of iOS, adoption has accelerated. The over the air update process introduced in iOS 5 really enabled the adoption curve that we see today. If you make a calculated risk that users will be upgrading to iOS 7 fairly rapidly, and really make your app shine in the new ecosystem, iOS 7 users may reward your app over the competition.

I assume that a revamp of iOS will not happen very often. We are presented with a unique opportunity to shine. The clock is ticking.

It’s Wednesday of WWDC week and the day’s sessions are over. It’s hard to believe that we are already over half way thru the conference. At WWDC, the learning flows like drinking from a firehose. Sessions dealing with the new design and UI changes in iOS 7 seem to be the most popular spots. Lines now feel like a normal part of every activity… waiting for a session to start, waiting for food, waiting to buy something, restrooms, etc. It’s actually a pleasant surprise when you find something that doesn’t have a line. All in all, it’s doable, but the lines do get a bit overwhelming. This year’s conference is attended by over 60% new attendees. There’s certainly some veterans here sporting coats from years past, but it’s clear that there are a lot of new faces. I’m encouraged by the number of young students that are here as well. Only a couple days left. I’m hoping to take in several more session and talk to some engineers in the labs on a few topics. There’s so much on the schedule each day it’s hard to get time to dig into code with the new SDK.

Apple today released a video on their YouTube channel called ‘Making a difference. One app at a time.’ It features several apps that are impacting lives around the world. As I’ve been attending sessions at WWDC, I’ve seen an emphasis on accessibility and the capabilities that are built into iOS. The video highlights how apps are being used on these platforms to have a huge impact on the daily lives of so many. It’s encouraging to see developers focused on solving so many different things across the globe.

For an app we are developing for the android platform, I wanted to prototype a camera with some custom controls and an overlay instructing the user what to do. Instead of using Eclipse I decided to give Android Studio a try.

First for some keyboard shortcuts (OSX):

1. ctrl-r — to run the application.

2. ctrl-d — to debug the application. Thankfully you don’t have to switch perspectives.

3. shift-cmd-F9 — to compile the application.

Some things that I like over Eclipse…

You don’t have to remember which methods to override or go to a separate view to see the methods to override. Say for instance you want to override the onResume() method in your activity. Just start typing “onRes…” and you will see

Press enter and you are done:

Suppose you are missing an import for a namespace, you can hit option-enter to quickly add it without having to lift your hand to use the trackpad. And for someone who wants to do more with the keyboard, this feature is really handy.

Something even better is the awareness that Android Studio has about its context. So, if my goal is to get the camera parameters, Android Studio will actually show me the appropriate method to call at the top of the list.

Yet another awesomeness is the ability to just use Ctrl-R to run the app from a layout file. In Eclipse, I always had to chose the activity if I was in a layout file.

As I use the newly unveiled beta of iOS 7, I can’t help but think that the OS is going to continue to drive more apps to full native development. As with previous releases of iOS, Apple is stretching the software and graphics capabilities in subtle but significant ways to deliver a polished best in class user experience. In order to fully take advantage of the new UI paradigms and capabilities in iOS 7, developers will need to make use of the SDK and powerful tools it provides. HTML5 based app solutions will begin to stand out further from native and not in a good way. Hybrid app solutions will not be able to take advantage of some of the great physics based UI elements that have been added to the iOS SDK. Native app development is how Apple intends developers to write apps for their platform. All of the tools and APIs are written to maximize the capability and productivity of native app developers. It’s not just Apple that has designed their platform this way, but the other major mobile platforms as well. There’s no intention to inject a third party between the developer and the platform. The promises of a shortcut and potential productivity gains just aren’t worth the loss in user experience. Apple has provided some very powerful and easy to use APIs in the new SDK that will enable some very subtle, but pleasing UI interactions that users will come to expect.

‘Twas the night before DubDub, when all thru the city,

Lots of creatures were stirring about a new kitty.

‘13’ jackets adorned on their backs with care,

In hopes that Jony Ive soon would be there;

Developers nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of iOS 7 danced in their heads…

Thanks for stopping by. We’re excited to start this new blog written and crafted by the Mobile Team members of Centare. We’ll be posting some interesting insights and tidbits about mobile development. Our team has a combined over 50 years of professional software development experience with over 10 years in mobile. We work with a wide variety of clients in many different domains on lots of different products and projects. We bring our passion, experience and expertise to each engagement and have lots of fun along the way.

Check out the about page for more info about our team.