Apple iPhone SDK | Toolchain | Windows Mobile | S60 | Android | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cost |
Free | Free | Free; could be more depending on tools used | Free; could be more depending on tools used | Free |
Wide-scale app availability |
June | Now | Now | Now | Depends on device availability |
Native development |
Yes |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Languages suppoted for native development |
Objective-C | Objective-C | C++, C#, VB.NET |
C++ | Java |
Digital certificates |
Required for distribution | No | Available, required for some phones | Available, required for some phones | No |
Retail support |
Full; 30 percent Apple revenue share; free apps allowable | No | Limited | Limited | No, but Android Developer Challenge offers money and publicity |
Platform maturity |
Immature | Immature | Mature | Mature | Immature |
First-party support |
Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Community support |
Just getting started! |
Excellent | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent |
App installation method |
Direct (App Store), iTunes | Installer.app, custom | Direct, ActiveSync | Direct, PC Suite | Unknown; installation on emulator is not reflective of production devices |
Emulator available |
Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Remote debugging |
Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Target device variety |
Poor | Poor | Excellent | Good | Poor (that will change, though) |
Touchscreen support |
Multi-touch |
Multi-touch | Single touch | Umm... soon? | Single touch |
App availability and variety |
Poor (that will change, though) | Good | Excellent | Excellent | Poor (that will change, though) |
Underlying architecture |
Cocoa Touch / Mac OS X |
Mac OS X |
Windows | Symbian | Linux |
Flash availability |
No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Java availability |
No | In development | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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iPhone SDK comparison chart


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