DragonFireSDK brings iPhone application development to the PC

Creating applications for Apple's ubiquitous smartphone used to happen only on a Mac and in the company's programming language. There was no easy way around that before Zimusoft released its DragonFireSDK that works in a Windows environment. And unlike the situation with Adobe's Flash, so far Apple has been a good boy with regards to Zimusoft's DragonFireSDK, so it looks as if it might just have a decent future.

The product is sold for $99.95 directly from Zimusoft and includes an iPhone simulator for testing on a PC. For this price the test builds get compiled on a Mac Server to get around the “Mac only” approval requirement plus you get an App Store Build bundle. If you need the SDK to compile more than one build that matches the requirement for upload to the App Store approval process, each additional build costs $10. There is also a Starter Kit available for $49.95, which has just the SDK and simulator in it for learning purposes.

Instead of Apple's Objective-C, the army of Windows developers would be using their familiar C/C++ programming syntax for app creation. All three programming languages are approved by Apple and developers can either publish the apps to the App Store for approval or distribute free ones through Zimusoft. Now that you no longer need a Mac to develop for the iPhone, it will be interesting to watch the counter in the App Store for signs of exponential growth. After all, the Zimusoft press release states that 80+% of the world's programmers work in Windows environment.

 
source: Zimusoft via IntoMobile