Beginning mac software development

i recently downloaded the iphone sdk which came with xcode. what i wanna know from ur experience is that aside from iphone development is app development for mac making any money from anyone? ive been a web developer for a long time and wanna get into software development primarily on apple devices. what type on applications are in demand for mac today? i know that for windows its security apps such as anti开发者_开发技巧virus or firewalls and maybe some other stuff. but what is selling high today on macs or is in great demand?

also can i make mac applications using xcode or do i have to use something else? is objective-c the mac development language or is that only for iphones thnx

With the release of Lion it is very clear that iOS and Mac OS X development are starting on a path of convergence. So, the fiscal question of whether or not Mac development is profitable is likely to be come less relevant.

As a 20 yr 3rd party developer exclusively on Apple based products; the market is definitely stronger than it was 10 years ago. The iOS Halo effect on Mac products is quite clear. Apple is selling an increasing number of desktops and portables in an industry where all other companies are losing ground.

Of course it helps with the iOS boom being so strong it helps that the only machine available for iOS development is a Mac.

Xcode is also the main development platform for the Mac. I state Main because as the Mac is a Unix based system, it is possible to develop tools on the Mac in gcc strictly with Unix APIs.

As for your entry niche for Mac development; I have one comment that I think stand true for all entrepreneurs, not just in software. It was a sentiment echoed by Steve Jobs in a keynote where he quotes a hockey player, Wayne Gretsky who learned from his father, "skate where the puck's going, not where it's been." What this means is that you shouldn't be looking for an existing niche to jump into, but seeking a need where people will need to go. P.S. If you're going to develop on Apple based platforms, get used to getting Jobsian quotations thrown at you.

The more you work on and live in a Mac, the more your natural sense of "Why isn't there * for the Mac" should kick in. Satiate the need and the sales will follow. BBEdit, Accessorizer, Pagemaker, Director, Garage Band... are all good examples of this.

Make an application that has a very good user interface, and make sure it does something relatively useful (except if it's a game) and get it noticed. Twitter/mac update. Also make sure that when making a shareware app, make sure the price is right :D

Objective C is the programming language for Mac OS X and the iphone. Apps for both are compiled with Xcode.

I've noticed that objective C has become extremely more popular since the I-phone came out, Meaning not as many people cared about it before it became essential for iphone development. (sources: objective c has recently jumped in language popularity charts, and there are more questions on SO about iphone than there are about mac os x). If you wanted to write an app for mac os x, you could just write it in java or some other cross platform language. It would work, and you wouldn't have to learn a new language. For iphone, apps have to be written in objective C to work at all (besides web apps), giving people a good reason to learn objective C. MORAL: learn how to write iphone apps.

I haven't done any professional mac development, but I would think if you are going to do something in objective C, you need to use the edge that you are using Cocoa and programming for mac natively instead of using a cross platform language, as you'll have far less competition. :D