Developers at WWDC not worried about iPhone, iPad screen size changes

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
If Apple does release a larger iPhone and smaller iPad, developers who attended the Worldwide Developers Conference last week said they're not too concerned the changes would be a significant hassle for them.

Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray polled 100 developers at WWDC 2012 in San Francisco, Calif., and asked them how difficult it would be to adjust their applications to two new screen sizes, presuming Apple were to make an iPhone with a larger screen, as well as a smaller "iPad mini."

Developers were asked to indicate, on a scale of one to 10, how difficult it might be for them to change their applications for the new screen sizes. On average, developers at WWDC said the difficulty would be just a 3.4 out of 10, suggesting they don't see it as a major issue.

"Given the relative ease expected by developers for utilizing potential new iOS screen sizes, we believe the introduction of new screen sizes would not affect the success or availability of the apps on iOS," Munster said.

Apple's next iPhone is expected to have a slightly larger, 4-inch display with 16-to-9 ratio that could offer more screen real estate while still allowing users to operate their iPhone with just one hand. All previous iPhone models have had a 3.5-inch screen with a 3-to-2 aspect ratio.

iPhone display analysis


Other reports have also claimed that Apple plans to introduce a smaller iPad with a 7.85-inch display this fall. The new device is rumored to feature a 1,024-by-768-pixel display, which would allow applications built for the first-generation iPad and iPad 2 to run natively on the smaller screen.

Developers at WWDC last week also indicated to Munster's team that 55 percent of them develop for both Apple's iOS and Google Android. Another 14 percent develop for Windows Phone, and 9 percent create applications for Research in Motion's BlackBerry platform.

The numbers suggest that iOS developer support for Android is growing, as last year 47 percent of iOS developers at WWDC also developed for Android. But support for BlackBerry plummeted from 36 percent last year.

Unsurprisingly, given that WWDC is an Apple-run show, developers indicated a strong preference for iOS. Among the 55 developers who create applications for both iOS and Android, 84 percent said that iOS was best for ease of development, while just 5 percent went with Android, and 2 percent chose Windows Phone.

WWDC


Developers also said that they see iOS having the highest future revenue potential for their applications, as 64 percent of developers see themselves making more money from Apple. Just 5 percent said they expect to make more money from Android, and the remaining 31 percent were either undecided or did not feel comfortable answering the question.

"We believe that Apple's loyal developer base will continue to develop cutting edge apps for iOS that will draw in new customers, helping to fuel continued growth in iOS device sales," Munster said.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 62
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I'm looking forward to the 'larger' iPad ...
  • Reply 2 of 62
    lerxtlerxt Posts: 186member
    Good to hear. Hopefully this means we wont necessarily get a tall skinny iPhone 5....
  • Reply 3 of 62

    Quote:


     All previous iPhone models have had a 3.5-inch screen with a 4-to-3 aspect ratio.



     


    Seriously, who writes for AI?? Obviously the iPhone is 3:2 and the iPad is 4:3.

  • Reply 4 of 62
    jmmxjmmx Posts: 341member


    In with the new and out with the old. 


     


    Unfortunately, when MobileMe gets shuttered in 2 weeks sp basic functionality will be lost. 







    • However, there is a movement to save some of the soon-to-be-lost features. Check out this link. Just use  in the poll to register your vote.








    •  


  • Reply 5 of 62
    carmissimocarmissimo Posts: 837member
    It's customary when quoting to repeat what the quoted source stated, not to change it to something incorrect and then complain about an imaginary mistake. The article states that the iPhone aspect ratio is 3 to 2, so one has to wonder what your point is.
  • Reply 6 of 62

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Carmissimo View Post



    It's customary when quoting to repeat what the quoted source stated, not to change it to something incorrect and then complain about an imaginary mistake. The article states that the iPhone aspect ratio is 3 to 2, so one has to wonder what your point is.


    It has since been corrected. It was not correct an hour ago. At least they're not entirely asleep at the wheel. 

  • Reply 7 of 62
    shaun, ukshaun, uk Posts: 1,050member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Lerxt View Post



    Good to hear. Hopefully this means we wont necessarily get a tall skinny iPhone 5....


     


    I read it the opposite - we will almost certainly get a tall skinny iPhone because that causes the least disruption for iOS developers. We've had too many leaked parts for anything else now. If they were going to change the shape I would have thought we would have seen parts with different sizes but they have all been consistent - tall and skinny.


     


    Also means the iPad Mini is a real possibility if all the iPad 2 app's will work on it without any changes required. I think the iPad Mini will be the hot must have Christmas present this year.

  • Reply 8 of 62
    lightknightlightknight Posts: 2,312member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Shaun, UK View Post


     


    I read it the opposite - we will almost certainly get a tall skinny iPhone because that causes the least disruption for iOS developers. We've had too many leaked parts for anything else now. If they were going to change the shape I would have thought we would have seen parts with different sizes but they have all been consistent - tall and skinny.


     


    Also means the iPad Mini is a real possibility if all the iPad 2 app's will work on it without any changes required. I think the iPad Mini will be the hot must have Christmas present this year.





    I hope these things don't come to be. Make the things faster, add NFC, addtactile response... but don't break what works, a perfect form factor.

  • Reply 9 of 62
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member


    They introduced a new Interface Builder mode for the Mac at WWDC last year, that lets you do GUIs in a more resolution independent way. Hopefully this will make it to iOS soon.

  • Reply 10 of 62
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ascii View Post


    They introduced a new Interface Builder mode for the Mac at WWDC last year, that lets you do GUIs in a more resolution independent way. Hopefully this will make it to iOS soon.



    You mean moving beyond the old "springs and struts" paradigm?  Yes, that's one of the changes introduced last week.  I don't know how well it works yet.  The old model wasn't robust enough to handle arbitrary screen sizes; presumably the new way will be much better.  ... and then the Android folks will steal that and it will help them deal with their device diversity mess.

  • Reply 11 of 62
    aviumavium Posts: 7member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malax View Post


    You mean moving beyond the old "springs and struts" paradigm?  Yes, that's one of the changes introduced last week.  I don't know how well it works yet.  The old model wasn't robust enough to handle arbitrary screen sizes; presumably the new way will be much better.  ... and then the Android folks will steal that and it will help them deal with their device diversity mess.



    I'm not an experienced Android developer, but I believe Android already adopts a flexible markup-based approach for setting up UIs. This is why Android phone apps scale up nicely on tablets, whereas iPhone apps are "pixel-doubled." In a way, this has worked to Apple's advantage since it incentivized developers to do tablet-specific interfaces for their apps, which make better use of the larger screen.

  • Reply 12 of 62


    I thought I wanted (and still do) a 16:9 iPad, but competitor tablets look odd with that aspect ratio. It could just be that I'm biased against Samsung tablets etc. 

  • Reply 13 of 62
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    lerxt wrote: »
    Hopefully this means we won't necessarily get a tall skinny iPhone 5….

    That's the opposite of what this is implying.

    Also, it's not the frigging iPhone 5.
  • Reply 14 of 62
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    shaun, uk wrote: »
    I read it the opposite - we will almost certainly get a tall skinny iPhone because that causes the least disruption for iOS developers. We've had too many leaked parts for anything else now. If they were going to change the shape I would have thought we would have seen parts with different sizes but they have all been consistent - tall and skinny.

    Also means the iPad Mini is a real possibility if all the iPad 2 app's will work on it without any changes required. I think the iPad Mini will be the hot must have Christmas present this year.
    I'm with you. This seems like it will be a breeze for developers to adopt. After all, if you look at Mail and Safari they stretch and shrink to the height of the window when you rotate already so developers should have building their apps to allow for this without a static display size. The only exception are games which the letterboxing will be adequate for now.


    I hope these things don't come to be. Make the things faster, add NFC, addtactile response... but don't break what works, a perfect form factor.
    I'd say NFC is much more difficult for Apple than this new display size. It's not just about adding the HW but creating the SW and the infrastructure to make it usable. Unless they are only in secret talks with MC and Visa I would have thought there would be inevitable leaks about this service if it was coming. Passbook looks like a great step that uses (an assumed) Yelp-based geo-fence but it's only an intermediary step.
  • Reply 15 of 62
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    avium wrote: »
    I'm not an experienced Android developer, but I believe Android already adopts a flexible markup-based approach for setting up UIs. This is why Android phone apps scale up nicely on tablets, whereas iPhone apps are "pixel-doubled." In a way, this has worked to Apple's advantage since it incentivized developers to do tablet-specific interfaces for their apps, which make better use of the larger screen.

    That isn't correct. Android apps are notorious for not scaling up properly on different Android phones, much less tablets. Sometimes the apps don't work at all, and other times, they "work" but are barely usable.

    With the new iPad allowing retina apps to finally appear in their resolution on the iPad, most of the scaling problem with the lower rez iPhone apps has gone away.
  • Reply 16 of 62
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    Also, it's not the frigging iPhone 5.

    Heh! You're fixated on this, aren't you? I see your posts on other sites complaining about this too. Hey! It's only a name, and it will only say "iPhone" on the back, as it always has.
  • Reply 17 of 62
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    melgross wrote: »
    Hey! It's only a name…

    It truly is not just a name.
  • Reply 18 of 62
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    I hope these things don't come to be. Make the things faster, add NFC, addtactile response... but don't break what works, a perfect form factor.

    Forget NFC. I think it's a dead issue. It looks as though Apple is interested in using either WiFi, or more likely, Bluetooth 4 for this purpose, as they do in their own stores. How they will negate the NFC chips in the devices used on the products, I don't know. But there doesn't appear to be a need for NFC chips in the phone itself. Another technology that may be going away before it arrives.
  • Reply 19 of 62
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    It truly is not just a name.

    The name is "iPhone". The rest isn't important. Even Cook was saying this in his interview at All Things D. I don't see what the big deal is. People will buy it because it's a new model, has new features and a new version of the OS. They won't be buying it because it's called the "iPhone5", or the "iPhone 6", or whatever.

    The lack of a number doesn't seem to have hurt new iPad sales. And "new" isn't officially part of the name, it's just a description that this is the new model.

    Seriously, why do you care?
  • Reply 20 of 62
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    melgross wrote: »
    Forget NFC. I think it's a dead issue.

    I wasn't too jazzed about having all of my money also stolen if my phone (camera, camcorder, music player, etc.) was stolen, anyway.

    As long as Bluetooth 4 can be made secure enough for this sort of thing, then I'm sure some people will enjoy using it.

    Me, I still just like cloth money. I don't trust this whole credit card business.
    melgross wrote: »
    The lack of a number doesn't seem to have hurt new iPad sales. And "new" isn't officially part of the name, it's just a description that this is the new model.

    Notice that I never said I was against that. I'm expecting it to be "the new iPhone".
    Seriously, why do you care?

    Say a brand new product category is introduced. The first model in this category has a name that ends in "3". People immediately ask where the other two were. Say a vehicle is designed as the "2012 model". Then a brand new one comes out the next year, new design, new hardware, developed entirely separately, also called the "2012 model".

    This can be extrapolated further to the name itself, with all the various scenarios therein. Absolutely the name of the product is important.
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