Together with my colleagues at the MIT Innovation AG, I just started the development of our Picturex App for iOS, using Xamarin. As we just recently released the Android (and obviously the Windows Phone) version of the app, this means we already have a well-working shared project (containing all the ViewModels and Models). So the first step (after figuring out how to best develop in Visual Studio (on Windows) and deploy on a Mac) is to get to know the Apple UI Design guidelines. A couple of years ago I already developed two iOS apps, but when WindowsPhone came out, I rapidly changed plans. The design of iOS has well evolved, and actually, I really like the new flat design of iOS7/8 – possibly, because it resembles Microsoft’s Modern UI (Metro) design a lot. Anyway, I am now looking at the different existing (and not existing – why is there no CheckBox) controls and comparing them to the controls I know from WindowsPhone (and Android). I will update this blog post, as soon as I have a shareable version of my ‘transfer’ notes. Microsoft did a great job to guide iOS Developers to Windows, and I am learning the same thing but backwards ;).
While I was seeking through various web ressources, I found an interesting presentation by Qubop Inc (from last year) on what developers should expect when they come from iOS to Windows Phone. The following two slides are noteworthy, as I never expected, that WindowsPhone development is so rapid (and obviously uses a lot less code):
Stay tuned for updates on my (and our) experience in porting the Windows Phone and Android version to iOS.