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Possible Duplicate:
How can I develop for iPhone using a Windows development machine?
iPhone development on Windows

I just got my new iPad and now I have two iOS devices, an iPod and an iPad. So I realized that iOS is a great OS to develop some stuff, but the problem is that I'm under Windows and I don't have any plans to buy a Mac. Anyway, what I want isn't the port of the SDK for Windows, so I can develop in Objective-C. What are all (maybe) the alternatives that I have to develop for the iPad (that I'm a lot more interested right now) and the other iOS devices?

PS: I'm interested at application development, not game development

Peter Mortensen
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Nathan Campos
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4 Answers4

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You might find following solutions handy. I have tried to comment those I am more familiar with:

Hopefully you'll find an alternative fitting your purposes. It really depends on what you already know. For instance if you are already familiar with Ext JS using Sencha Touch seems like a no-brainer to me.

To get an app to App Store it looks like the only solution (at least AFAIK) is to use PhoneGap for packaging your JS app. You will need XCode (mac) for this. Perhaps it's possible to use a virtualized version of OS X for this as well though I cannot guarantee this will work.

Jonesome Reinstate Monica
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Juho Vepsäläinen
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  • There isn't any applications that I can pack/sign the files to upload them to the App Store? – Nathan Campos Dec 26 '10 at 12:58
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    This is actually something I'm currently investigating as well. Sadly I haven't found a way to do that. Perhaps someone else will know. :) – Juho Vepsäläinen Dec 26 '10 at 13:01
  • Perhaps one way would be to bypass App Store altogether and make your app completely web based (ie. provide the client a link and some way to auth). This might work in some case. Just thought to mention. – Juho Vepsäläinen Dec 26 '10 at 13:03
  • Check out http://www.taranfx.com/how-to-develop-iphone-apps-on-windows for some extra ideas. – Juho Vepsäläinen Dec 26 '10 at 13:20
  • Thanks very much. About the App Store, how I can submit the applications? – Nathan Campos Dec 26 '10 at 14:38
  • I think you need to join Apple's dev program ($99) in order to do that. See http://developer.apple.com/ipad/sdk/index.html for more info. – Juho Vepsäläinen Dec 26 '10 at 14:57
  • This is just crazy. Pay $99 to develop freeware applications like a do. No way for me – Nathan Campos Dec 26 '10 at 15:44
  • Ok. Check out http://www.viaboxxsystems.de/html-fullscreen-apps-for-the-ipad . It shows how to make your web apps full screen on iPad. Pick some lib, apply that trick and get hacking. :) – Juho Vepsäläinen Dec 26 '10 at 16:29
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    I heartily agree that the need to pay $99 just to develop programs for yourself is crazy. – Yuji Dec 26 '10 at 16:40
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    You don't need to interact with Apple to develop programs to run on your own device. You cannot _publish_ without going through the app store. – Ken Dec 26 '10 at 22:27
  • Delphi XE4 is a good alternative nowadays. And there are nice component packs that give ios native controls. No mac needed with their cool "mac in cloud" service. – Jonesome Reinstate Monica Aug 22 '13 at 16:47
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You said you want all the alternatives, so let me add:

I understand you don't have any plan to buy a mac, but change your mind. Buy a cheapest mac.

Come on, you invested already on an iPad and an iPod. Buying a Mac mini shouldn't be so mentally difficult for you.

edit:

@Nathan: why do you hate OS X while you love iOS? As hotpaw2 says, they are basically the same. I believe the kernels are compiled from the same source. Both have a set of basic pseudo-object-oriented C functions for strings and array manipulation, called Core Foundation. The GUI part is done by libraries called AppKit / UIKit, which are basically the same.

In fact, OS X, even in Snow Leopard, has a few remnant of OS 9, while iOS is almost purely derived from NeXTStep. On OS X Gestalt is alive and well (even after deprecation of most of Carbon), but there's no such thing in iOS! So, if you love OS 9, you should like OS X more than iOS.

I know love and hate are not logical, but you're not at all logical here :)

Yuji
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    I can buy a Mac, the only problem is that I hate Mac OS X(but I love Classic Mac OS like v9). But at iOS I saw that it's an awesome mobile OS **:)** – Nathan Campos Dec 26 '10 at 14:39
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    Mac OS X is nearly the same OS under the hood as iOS. One with a touch UI and one with a mouse/keyboard UI on top. – hotpaw2 Dec 26 '10 at 15:05
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Another way: you can get an emulator of Mac for PC, and develop on it. I'm searching as well. I heard the PearPC is a very good emulator.

Peter Mortensen
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Ohad R
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If you want to develop iOS apps for the latest iOS libraries, and not fight with foreign tools and unsupported app installation processes, get a cheap Mac. The OS is nearly the same between Mac OS X and iOS, which is why the development tools work best on a Mac.

hotpaw2
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