What Kiwi mobile app teams need to know about iOS 8, iPhone 6, and Swift

As the iPhone enters its eighth year of existence, Apple has introduced a combination of hardware and software technologies designed to position the company ahead of the mobile market as the top target platform for mobile apps.

One of the most notable new technologies is the Swift programming language, which aims to make developing iOS apps easier and faster for new iOS developers who are familiar with using modern language like C# and Java as compared to Objective-C.

However, as Gartner analyst Jason Wong points out, early challenges are arising in the transition for some developers due to Swift’s “immaturity and lack of any innovation” as a language.

“Another significant change comes on the hardware side,” explains Wong, “where Apple adds not one but two new form factors in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

“Now, similar to Android devices, iOS developers must account for four different screen sizes, ranging from 3.5 to 5.5 inches diagonally.”

According to Wong, Apple also continues to “ramp up” security features to support enterprise use cases, like multiple user profiles.

“Many of the new security functions impact enterprise mobile management (EMM) solutions,” he adds, “but there are a few features that impact mobile app security, such as enhanced SSO and VPN support.”

Finally, Wong believes the new iOS SDK offers “important” new APIs for developers to make their apps even more powerful, such as Touch ID, Extensibility, and Notification Center integration.

As a result, Wong claims “enterprises need to factor such capabilities into their mobile app development plans for B2E apps to achieve greater productivity and better usability.”