Response to the iPhone, the iPod touch, and now the iPad has been nothing short of overwhelming. The App Store has captured the hobbyist’s imagination like no other platform in recent memory. Hobbyists have made—and will continue to make—money from their creations sold on the App Store. And we aren’t necessarily talking about high-minded technical innovations. The media has reported that apps that make your iPhone pass gas have made folks hundreds of thousands of dollars. Rival farting App developers have even gone so far as to sue one another over the App Store’s precious revenue. The iOS family of devices and the App Store are here to stay—and there’s still plenty of opportunity for you to create the next great app.

As proof of this popularity, after posting a few tutorial videos on Vimeo, James heard from people from Asia, Europe, and South America about those videos. So, when we decided to write this book, we kept in mind that iOS devices have significant international appeal. We have tried to make this book as accommodating as possible for as wide an audience as possible. We have kept colloquialisms to a minimum, for instance. But more important than avoiding colloquialisms, this book relies upon discrete, numbered steps that illustrate each major concept. Rather than a lot of prose describing the iOS SDK, we show you the SDK in action.