Does iPhone developer REALLY needs iPhone?

Question

For the sake of coding itself, I know that I don't need to buy iPhone as there's pretty good emulator.
However, as I will develop iPhone apps for clients (will not have direct contacts to clients) via freelancers sites, do you think that I might get rejected (not chosen) by the contractor because I don't have iPhone at home?
Do contractors accept this way of working:

• I develop the app, test it in the emulator and send it to them
• They test it in iPhone and send me the list of the bugs
• I fix the bugs and send them the app back
• They find new bugs and...

Answer 1

Yes, or at least an iPod Touch.

To clarify:

Yes. You really need one. Debugging the kind of errors that cause it not to open on the device at all, for example, can be mind-numbingly tedious if you don't have the device handy.

For most purposes, of course, an iPod Touch should do just fine, but the crux of the matter is that the testers can only test what they see; only the developer can actually test crucial stuff, most of the time.

So to repeat. Yes, you'll need a device. A thousand times yes.

Answer 2

I don't think that you won't get the clients - but I do think its a terrible idea not to have a device to test on.

There are many things that won't work properly in the simulator. For instance you can't simulate a camera function, you can't simulate GPS (properly - it always sets you at the apple HQ), you can't simulate sound recording, or test with a real contact address book or a real set up. You can't test whether there is an internet connection or if there are any iphone specific bugs.

On the other side of the coin there are loads of things that will work in the iphone simulator that won't work on the device itself. For instance NSXML and such won't work on an iphone, but WILL work in the simulator.

If you can get hold of one of the new ipod touches they do pretty much most things you will need, and you don't have to get into a data plan or anything. I would suggest AT LEAST getting one of those. You can't make apps if you can't test them properly.

Other things:

• In app purchases - @Stephen Darlington

Answer 3

Whenever working for clients, the clients do not pay you for having an iphone or not... or being able to test it on a actual iPhone. The clients pay you for the product you deliver. They expect it to work on the device.

My recommendation is to get yourself an iPhone 3, 3gs and 4 if you want the best results. But, if money is a object here... try developing minor projects which are reliable in the simulator. AND ask friends/family which do have iPhones to test it for you on their device. Its better to ask mates to do this, then ask the client, this way you have a better comunication with your client, your client has more faith in you and... well lets face it, it is the developers responsibility to deliver quality code. Right?

Answer 4

Your client may have something of an issue paying money for software that was never tested on actual hardware. No matter how good an emulator is, you should always try the software on the real machine your program will be running on. The emulator will simulate the way the API responds etc, but you could be blindsided by things such as interference from other running applications, subtle timing bugs, interaction between different versions of the firmware or hardware, etc.

In short, I don't think there is a legal reason you have to test on a real iPhone, but from a Q/C point of view, I think there is no question you need the real hardware to run it on.

Paying customers generally dislike being treated as a beta tester.

Answer 5

There are some tests you cannot perform in the emulator. And I am not sure contractors will like this ping-pong test approach (somebody will get tired after couple passes).

You can get an old second-gen iPod touch at a very good price since there are many people who would like to get rid of it. And Apple advices to test apps on older hardware to achieve the best performance. So you'd better get something 'hard' to play with.

Answer 6

Another aspect is performance. The simulator (running on a powerful Mac) will be much faster than a device. This was a huge difference with the original first iPhone.

As an alternative to the iPod: look for a cheap original iPhone on eBay or so. But remember that this will not run iOS4.