I knew from when I started work on Lens•Lab that I wanted it to be a Universal iOS application, that is, a single binary that runs on the handheld iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch) as well as the iPad tablets. This is different from having two separate binaries targeting the two separate families of devices.
With a single, universal binary your users can use the same app with all the devices they may happen to have. You can purchase Lens•Lab once and you can install it on your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch without having to repurchase it.
Many apps have separate, typically higher priced “HD” versions of their apps for iPad. These iPad specific versions tend to cost 2 or 3 times what their smaller brothers cost. I think this kind of sucks and I’ll give you my reasons why:
- There is nothing particularly challenging about making your app work on an iPad. In fact, one could argue that it is easier to create apps for the iPad because you are not constrained space-wise nearly as much as with the iPhone or iPod Touch.
- The iPad does not have significantly more pixels than an iPhone 4. The iPad has 786,432 pixels (1024 x 768) while the iPhone 4 has 614,400 (960 x 640). For reference, the older devices (iPhone 3G, etc.) have 153,600 pixels (480 x 320).
- The only challenging part about creating a Universal app is maintaining separate code and interface files for the separate devices. But this is a burden that is shared for all devices and shouldn’t demand a higher price for the iPad version.
- Angry Birds: 99¢
- Angry Birds HD: $4.99
- Cut the rope: 99¢
- Cut the Rope HD: $1.99
- Full Fitness: 99¢
- Full Fitness HD: $2.99
[…] Jeff’s Software Blog Thingee 上有一篇很有意思的博客:Thoughts On Universal iOS Apps […]
[…] Jeff’s Software Blog Thingee 上有一篇很有意思的博客:Thoughts On Universal iOS Apps […]