According to Bump's statistics from Jan 2011, 90% of all iOS devices run iOS 4.x. We decided to target 3.1.3, because while using 4.0 features would make development a bit quicker, we calculated that additional 10% (it was a bit more back then in favor of 3.1.3) is still worth it.
Do you think anybody still on 3.x will actually spend money on random apps for their phone, that aren't backed by some massive marketing campaign and/or network effects? (Obviously, if you're working on such an app, my thinking might not apply ;)
It's a genuine question, even though it sounds rhetorical. The same applies to people still using pre-3GS devices.
I'm working on the assumption that these people simply won't spend (much) money on apps, and that the effort involved in supporting older devices and OSs won't ever be repaid. If it's going to take you even one day, probably not worth bothering. iOS development is a crapshoot enough, without your spending time trying to support a wider range of devices. The longer you spend coding support for older devices, the smaller the percentage of the market they will be by the time you release.
(This is particularly true for OpenGL stuff, but I imagine it goes for Cocoa as well.)
It is a very good question indeed. And the answer is - yes, I do think so (actually I did 1 year ago, because now the 3.x market share is close to nil). Many 3G owners do wonders to downgrade back to 3.x for performance reasons. And they do spend money.
Consider European markets where costs to upgrade iPhone 3G to 3GS/4G are much more than $200.
I was working with a large retailer to develop a free iOS app. For the initial release, they wanted to target the widest number of users that they could, so our requirements were 3.1+ only. We included a bunch of analytics to track use and client statistics.
After being live for 45 days, it has around 50,000 users total at this point. Of those 50,000 users, less than 2% (817) were using pre-4.0 devices.
At that point, it was easy to convince them to abandon 3.x support for the next version, which will greatly simplify a lot things for us. I'm anxious to see how quickly 5.0 is adopted once it hits.
I predict it will be adopted even quicker than the 4.x branch, due to new notifications. Much sought after feature. Few months and 4.x market share will probably be close to 3G market share.
It's a genuine question, even though it sounds rhetorical. The same applies to people still using pre-3GS devices.
I'm working on the assumption that these people simply won't spend (much) money on apps, and that the effort involved in supporting older devices and OSs won't ever be repaid. If it's going to take you even one day, probably not worth bothering. iOS development is a crapshoot enough, without your spending time trying to support a wider range of devices. The longer you spend coding support for older devices, the smaller the percentage of the market they will be by the time you release.
(This is particularly true for OpenGL stuff, but I imagine it goes for Cocoa as well.)