Apple iOS development course debuts

David Swan
Monday, 02 May 2011 21:26

Your IT - Mobility

A new commercial app development course is being touted as the first of its kind to be offered in Australia by an Apple Authorised Training Centre. \

According to Dimension Data Learning Solutions (DDLS), the hosts of the course, the five-day instructor-led course teaches the knowledge and skills to develop Apple iOS international applications for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch using a variety of development tools and techniques.

The course is aimed at both beginners and experienced developers, but some basic knowledge of programming languages including C++, Java and Objective C is required.

'The popularity of these Apple iOS devices is increasing dramatically and there's a significant demand from programmers for an Apple training course to keep them up to date with both programming and publishing for these devices,' explained Michelle Dowling, DDLS Vendor Alliance Manager.

According to analyst house IDC's Q4 Mobile Device Tracker, Australian smartphone shipments surged 101% year-on-year (Y/Y) in Q4 2010, with 2.64 million devices shipped.

In total, 4.25 million mobile devices were shipped in Q4, with smartphones accounting for a record 62%, up 24% from Q4 2009's penetration of 38%.

Graham Dawson, founder and director of successful Australian application development house Ajnaware, agrees that the demand for iPhone apps is on the rise.

'The iPhone is still the must-have device and every company from publishers to restaurants want apps that run on the iPhone. The increasing popularity of the iPad is just going to compound that.

Although all smart developers should consider this course, the influence of Apple's application development goes right to the heart of all business growth, so savvy execs should be on the case too,' says Dawson.

The course introduces the features and concepts being introduced with the new version of the iOS SDK, focusing on user interfaces; program structure and implementation details. The first courses will be held at DDLS Sydney on 9th May, 2011 and at DDLS Melbourne June 27th, 2011.

After completing the course students will be apparently be able to:
-          Develop international applications for Apple's iOS platform
-          Design, create and utilise multi-touch graphical user interfaces
-          Understand Apple's development tools (XCode, Interface Builder and Instruments)
-          Access inbuilt iPhone hardware features such as the GPS chip and accelerometer
-          Publish applications to the Apple AppStore
-          Develop hybrid iPhone applications
-          Securely store data and passwords using inbuilt encryption APIs

 

The App Store is accessible from the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad via an iOS application by the same name. It is also the only way to directly download native applications onto an iOS device without jailbreaking the device.  The store is also accessible through iTunes, and then on any operating system for which iTunes is provided (Mac OS X and Windows).