1.2. Adjusting your expectations

With a development environment that will already be familiar to existing Mac OS X developers, you may mistakenly think that the iPhone is just another miniature computing device, similar to any old laptop, tablet, or netbook. That idea couldn’t be any further from the truth. An iPhone is more capable than a simple cell phone but less so than a standard desktop PC. As a computing device, it fits within a market space similar to that of netbooks, designed more for casual and occasional use throughout the day in a variety of situations and environments than for sustained periods of use in a single session.

1.2.1. A survey of hardware specifications, circa mid-2011

On taking an initial look at an iPhone 4, you’ll undoubtedly notice the 3.5-inch screen, 960 x 640 pixels, that virtually dominates the entire front of the device. Its general size and the fact that the built-in touch screen is the only way for users to interact with the device can have important ramifications on application design. Although 960 x 640 is larger than many cell phones, it probably isn’t the screen on which to view a 300-column-by-900-row spreadsheet.