iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual

Make It Official

Up until now, you've been able to run code only in the Simulator. The whole point of this book is developing apps for your iPhone, not a big honkin' facsimile running on your Mac. Why can't you see your app running in the palm of your hand?

If you're already a developer, you're used to working with source code editors, compilers, linkers, and debuggers. On the iPhone, you need to learn a completely new concept during your builds—code signing. Applications won't run on your iPhone until this step is complete.

This important new piece of your development toolbox is one of the more challenging aspects of iPhone development. Many experienced developers, even ones who have been working on the iPhone since its initial release, periodically get confused by how it works. When you encounter problems, take solace in the fact that you're not alone.

Join the iPhone Developer Program

As you saw in Chapter 1, Apple supplies the iPhone SDK for free, making it cheap and easy to get comfortable with this new development environment. But after you decide to distribute your product, you must join the iPhone Developer Program. It's going to cost you $99 per year to install applications on an iPhone or an iPod touch, either for testing or via the App Store.

This fee helps Apple run the program, but there's a more subtle reason for the charge—it's how the company verifies your identity. Apple takes security on the iPhone very seriously and doesn't want a rogue developer to damage the platform. ...