Does it make any sense to develop iPhone application compatible with iOS 3?

Question

I am developing iPhone application which involves the frameworks available from iOS 3.2 (Core Text, etc..) for rapid development, but the client requires deployment target to be iOS 3.0

The dilemma is either drop the comparability requirement together with development cost but narrow the potential user range or to take an significant extra effort to develop application compatible with older iOS. The dilemma comes from the opinion that the users who do not update their iPhones are the ones who do not use AppStore, do not buy apps, etc... so keeping developing for them does not have marketing sense.

Is this true? Do you know any reliable resource/research regarding the subject?

Answer 1

As i see it - Apple is one of the companies with the highest upgrading percentages, most users upgrade to a steady release no longer than 3-4 months after its out (the more savvy ones will upgrade almost immediately usually),

Honestly i think the number of users who are actively downloading apps that DON'T have iOS > 3 is low enough to "ignore" it when needed.

If the decision was left to me i would go for > 3.2 as you need Core Text as you said and the downside isn't that high .

Thats my personal opinion about it :)

Cheers.

Answer 2

Definitely don't waste your time. Virtually EVERYONE is on iOS 4+ now, and virtually everyone will be on iOS 5 by early next year.

Also, please use the search function next time, this question has been asked many times before.

Answer 3

If you are selling such a massive huge number of apps that even a tiny percentage increase in sales can pay the salary of full time programmers and QA testers, and your app is usable without the newer APIs, then maybe it's worth supporting ancient OS versions.

If not, it's most likely not worth it, as

1) the smaller feature set allowed by not using the newest APIs, and

2) the longer development and testing time as well, might cost you more new sales than you would get from customers with ancient devices; and

3) people who don't upgrade their OS or their devices don't buy nearly as many apps as people running more up-to-date OS versions.