Advice to iOS 7 developers: Push your app further with new UI

Developers looking to build apps for Apple's just-delivered iOS 7 mobile operating system must be mindful of nuances like screen design and should use new capabilities like expanded multitasking.

Apple had offered three-month beta program for iOS 7, and developers who participated in it say they like the maturity in the OS but note the significantly changed user interface. In particular, the "flatter" design puts content first rather than encouraging developers to make, for example, a calendar app that looks like an actual paper calendar, as was the case in previous versions.

Despite the many visual changes, the new interface recognizes that users already are familiar with iOS, so it works largely as before, which developers appreciate. "I like the fact that we're finally getting away from this idea of having to train a user on how to use a smartphone," says Khurram Khan, a senior software architect at Skava, which builds mobile websites for retailers.

The stark visual change also gives developers an opportunity to refresh their apps, using the new look and feel as the rationale, notes Michael Swindell, vice president at Embarcadero Technologies, a mobile development tools vendor. Applications not specifically designed for iOS 7 but running on it anyway -- meaning most existing apps -- "just feel out of place," says Brandon Satrom, program management lead for software development tools vendor Telerik.

Ravi Bhatt, CEO of software developer Branchfire, says developers still need to recognize that, for the moment anyhow, there's a heterogeneous base of some users running iOS 7 and others running iOS 6. Apple users tend to upgrade quickly, so the proportion of devices running iOS 6 or earlier should quickly become small in a few months, based on previous user upgrade rates. And in a first for Apple, users will be able to install pre-iOS 7 versions of their apps if their devices can't run iOS 7. Still, "the biggest thing [developers] need to worry about is making sure their apps are targeted for iOS 7," Bhatt advises. "iOS 7 is an opportunity to make pretty cool transformative changes."

Beyond the look and feel, iOS 7 features new APIs for expanded multitasking. Previously, Apple only allowed a small set of services to run in the background, such as audio playback and alerts; applications otherwise self-suspended when users switched to other apps. In iOS 7, developers can multitask virtually any type of operation, even when the app is not onscreen. Developers "just need to learn Apple's set of rules for doing this," says Embarcadero's Swindell.

Not everyone is sold on everything Apple did with iOS 7, though. "Some of the changes that Apple made removed too much contrast from certain screens," says Telerik's Satrom.

Skava's Khan said he would like to see Apple's fast Nitro JavaScript engine available for apps' Web view mode; as in previous iOS versions, it is limited to Safari, so apps that use the WebKit engine instead get slower performance. But Khan loves the new Safari, which provides more screen real estate: The whole screen "is reserved for my site's design," he notes.

The worst thing an iOS developer could do is "to just treat it like eye candy," says Branchfire's Bhatt. Both iOS and the Mac's OS X will eventually feel the same, he points out. "That's the direction we're headed. You can see it." Developers should be thinking that way as they evolve their apps.

This story, "Advice to iOS 7 developers: Push your app further with new UI," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

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Facebook's Zuckerberg gives IPO advice, reluctantly, to Twitter

How should Twitter handle an initial public offering? Mark Zuckerberg admits he’s probably not the best person to ask.

The Facebook CEO was asked at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco Wednesday for some advice on how Twitter could ensure a smooth IPO.

But Facebook’s own IPO was beset with technical glitches and claims of insider trading. “I was worried people would leave the company,” Zuckerberg said of the period after Facebook went public.

But, after leading Facebook through a turbulent first year as a public company, Zuckerberg said that the IPO process itself “is actually not that bad.”

Zuckerberg was interviewed on stage by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington.

For a smooth IPO, Zuckerberg said, “You have to know everything about your company. You’ve got to stay focused on doing the right stuff.”

Zuckerberg cited Facebook’s strong growth in mobile as an example of the importance of identifying the right areas of focus for a company.

Last year, Facebook basically had no revenue in mobile, and “people thought it was a disastrous thing,” Zuckerberg said. But during Facebook’s most recent earnings call this past July, the company reported that 41 percent of its total advertising revenue was derived from mobile.

An IPO for Twitter will go over fine as long as the social network “focuses on what they’re doing,” Zuckerberg said.

Twitter is trying to refine its focus around real-time conversations. The company recently tweaked its site and mobile apps to make it easier for people to carry out conversations on Twitter and post them outside the social network too.

Twitter has launched new advertising products too in an effort to raise revenues with a possible IPO looming. Earlier this week Twitter announced that it had bought MoPub, a mobile-focused ad exchange. MoPub’s technology could help Twitter serve ads to more consumers outside of Twitter.com and the site’s mobile apps.

Twitter has a little more than 200 million active users; Facebook has more than 1 billion.

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