Nick Kuh - Freelance iPhone, iPad, iOS Developer, Trainer and Consultant - Brighton, UK

How to Make iPhone Apps: New iOS 5 Developer Training Course

Nick Kuh — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:36:18 +0000

SummaryCourse ContentCosts/Options

New Training Course!

Starting in 2012 I will be teaching students how to make iOS 5 iPhone Apps using Objective C, Xcode and the iPhone SDK.

The future is mobile

Good iPhone Developers are hot property right now. They are also hard to find as demand far exceeds supply. I should know – with over 12 years experience developing commercial software – I moved into native iOS App Development when the iPhone first launched. I’ve never looked back.

Why become an iOS Developer?

There are many great reasons to pick iPhone Development as a new career or career change. Here are just a few:

Programming for mobile devices is fun! You love using apps daily on your iPhone/iPod/iPad? How cool would it be to be able to make your own apps that you could sell on the AppStore to the millions and millions of Apple iOS users around the globe?
The money! You don’t have to invent the next Angry Birds to make a great living as an iPhone Developer. Develop apps for commercial clients. Freelance iOS Developers charge a minimum of £400 per day for commercial work – and much more with experience and a solid portfolio.

A course for Companies

If you’re a company looking to train up in-house programmers to build apps then this could be just the course for you. A small investment in training will save you money in the longer-term – no more expensive outsourcing required!

Silicon Beach Training

I’ve teamed up with Brighton’s most popular training centre – Silicon Beach to devise and teach a great new iPhone development training workshop. Over this 5 day, hands-on course delegates will become familiar and comfortable programming Objective C using Xcode 4.2: developing iOS 5 apps for iPhone and iPad.

Learn from a Professional iOS Developer

As an experienced, Apple award-winning App Developer I’ve designed the course content to also include numerous tips, tricks and lessons learned to help new iPhone App Developers succeed on the AppStore: SEO, in-app marketing approaches and how to win more 5 star reviews.

Prerequisites

Although no prior experience of Xcode or Objective C is required, delegates will need to already be proficient in one other object oriented programming language and be comfortable working on Intel-based Macs.

Build an iPhone App in 5 Days: Course Content

The 5-day course is split into 3 key parts:

Objective C, Xcode and iOS SDK Foundation work
Building an App: Applying the foundation knowledge
AppStore tips’n'tricks and iTunes Connect

Course Objectives

Understand Xcode, Interface Builder (now built into Xcode) and Organizer
How to write Objective C
How to develop using iOS 5 SDK and other 3rd party frameworks
How to implement the Facebook SDK and social features into your apps
How to customise the user interface: make your apps beautiful!
How to build an iPhone App from scratch
An insight into Apple’s AppStore SEO and app submission process

Day’s 1 and 2: Building Foundation Knowledge

The Basics

Introduction to Xcode and Interface Builder
Introduction to Objective C – syntax and core classes
Introduction to the iOS 5 SDK: hands-on examples: UIImage and UIImageView, UILabel, UIButton
Using Navigation Controllers and Tab Bar Controllers
Understanding View Controllers and their life cycle: how to repsond effectively to the built-in methods such as : viewDidLoad, viewWillAppear, viewWillDissappear
Introduction to Table Views

Taking the Knowledge Further

Introduction to some of the best 3rd party Cocoa frameworks that take the pain out of implementing complex tasks such as: HTTP calls and JSON parsing
Behind the Scenes: Understanding iOS Memory Management and ARC (Automatic Reference Counting – new in Xcode 4.2)
New in iOS 5: Appearance APIs make Customising Navigation Bar and Tool Bars easy!
A short intro to CoreData: Apple’s solution to offline caching

Days 3 and 4
Building an App: Applying the foundation knowledge

Here’s where all the hard work learning the foundation knowledge really pays off. Over these 2 days I’ll walk you through the core steps I use every day in my professional work building apps.

Setting up your Xcode project
Effective sub classing of your view controllers – saves code and debug time
How to use singletons effectively – they are not evil!
Notification Center – Apple’s framework for passing data between your Object Oriented class instances
Implementing Facebook’s latest iOS SDK – the world’s most popular social network integrated into your app
More UI customisation
Download, cache and optimised display of remote images

Day 5
AppStore tips’n'tricks and iTunes Connect

App Submission Process

Conquering certificates and provisioning profiles
A tour of iTunes Connect
Submitting your app to the AppStore via Xcode’s Organizer

AppStore Tips’n'Tricks

AppStore SEO – how important is your icon and title in the AppStore?
Improve your chances of good AppStore ratings and reviews
App Stats – how to track and learn from your downloads and user stats

Option 1: For the Freelancer

The Dates

Silicon Beach has lined me up for the following 3 confirmed public course dates:

6 – 10 Feb 2012
16 – 20 Apr 2012
25 – 29 Jun 2012

The 5 day course costs £1,200+vat per person.

To book your place on one of these public courses please contact Silicon Beach directly here

Option 2: in-house Company Training Package

I offer the same workshop at your premises. The course is ideal for training 3-10 delegates in-house at your company over a 5 day week.

Costs for the in-house course:

The 5 day course costs a fixed fee of £6,000 plus travel and accommodation expenses (if applicable) for up to two delegates. The overal cost increments £250 per week for each additional delegate. So, for example, the cost for 5 delegates would be £6,750.

To book this option contact me here.

Tap to Chat 2 for iPhone and iPad

Nick Kuh — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:26:44 +0000

After 3 very intense weeks of development and design Tap to Chat 2 has finally launched!

Chris Ross and I started the Tap to Chat adventure back in November last year. As two Indie iPhone Developers we decided to team-up and build an Instant Messenger app for Facebook users on iPhone and iPad. The original version launched just before Christmas 2010. Since then Tap to Chat has seen over half a million downloads!

On the back of our success with Tap to Chat, Chris and I have formed a new company – Osmosis Apps – the primary goal being to make software that focuses on great user experience.

Tap to Chat 2 has been written from scratch and includes a brand new, beautiful, pixel-perfect interface. Tap to Chat 2 is: super-simple to use and blisteringly fast to connect all your Facebook Chat and Google Talk friends. We’ve laboured over every detail and included accessibility support for visually impaired users and VoiceOver support. An all-round great user experience.

As part of our launch, I had a lot of fun creating a demo video of the software with a well-known love story theme. Take a look:

Tap to Chat 2 was approved by Apple on Friday night (20th May). In just a few days it has already climbed into the top 25 Social Networking apps in the UK, the US and many other countries.

For all the features and details about Tap to Chat 2 head over to our new company site – www.osmosisapps.com.
Here are a few screen-grabs of Tap to Chat 2 in action on iPhone and iPad:

I’m Hiring: Trainee/Graduate App Developer Required!

Nick Kuh — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:57:18 +0000

Are you a computer science graduate with the ambition and potential to become a great App Developer? If so, you might be the person I’m looking to hire!

A bit about YOU!

You’re a recent computer science graduate
You have a great level of understanding of Object Oriented Programming and can provide code examples to prove it!
You have some experience of Cocoa and the iOS SDK
You’re passionate about new technologies, especially mobile software!
You’re a fast learner

A bit about ME!

I’m a freelance Developer with over 12 years commercial experience developing client and server-side software. These days my main focus is iPhone, iPod and iPad Development but I’ll also be working on some Android projects this year. I’m based at the Werks in Hove. I work on both my own hit iOS Apps like Tap to Chat and service work, building iOS Apps for a number of big clients and brands.

Why I’m HIRING!

I have a lot of great confirmed iOS Projects now confirmed – too much for one Developer! I already trade as a company but my plan is to grow the business and recruit some other great graduates/trainees and help to turn them into great App Developers as part of my own evolving Software Development Business.

What I’m OFFERING!

Initial 3 month contact working at the Werks with me
Strong potential to become a longterm deal
Competitive rates, depending on experience
Fair hours: 9-6 with an hour for lunch

Where and When?!

You’ll be based at The Werks with me. Starting late May on a 3 month rolling contract.

If you this contract sounds interesting to you and you meet the requirements please send me an email to nick.kuh@gmail.com with:

A bit about yourself and how you meet the skill-set I’m looking for
Your CV attached
An example class you’ve written (ideally in Cocoa or Java)
Expected salary / rates

NO AGENCIES PLEASE

A ‘Paperless Conference’ App for iPod Touch

Nick Kuh — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:55:44 +0000

Commissioned by West End Studios, I led the iOS Development of a feature-rich conference meeting application for Novartis Global. The app enabled delegates to view their personalised conference diary and network with other 450 delegates and speakers.

I built the messaging system for the iPod app using Apple’s Push Notification technology and a custom local/server cache syncing solution. Although initially the messaging feature was a low priority for the app, it ultimately rolled out into multiple features: Private Messaging, Help Desk Chat, and Ask the Presenter a Question.

450 iPods await collection!

Another great feature of the app were the maps. Google Maps wasn’t a viable option as we wanted delegates to be able to access the maps even when offline and not on site. I developed a PDF rendering solution for this which also enabled delegates to find locations of any event in their diary.

The app enabled Novartis to host a ‘paperless conference’. No print outs were distributed throughout the sessions, plenaries or exhibitions. Instead all events were accessible through the iPod app and delegates could access any event documents directly and ‘send to my email’. Both a cost saving in terms of printing and a green solution.

A substantial effort was made during the development to ensure that the app would run most features offline. With 400+ iPods simultaneously attempting to connect to the wi-fi you tend to run into problems delivering a reliable wireless network. Our app regularly synced with the server and then locally cached all data and images (using Apple’s CoreData framework). The guys at West End implemented a streaming media server to deliver conference movies directly to the iPods throughout the event. However, we had a fallback option whereby even the movies would get cached and run locally if requested by the CMS. This was ideal for help videos for example. The flip-side of data caching is of course the security implications. So we implemented a feature into the CMS that would trigger the iPod to instantly clear the local cache and log the user out of the device remotely.

I was at the conference and able to see the software in action. The feedback was incredibly positive. Even the less technically enthusiastic and more sceptical delegates were won over by the end of the three days.

Martin de Planta, head of Global Learning @ Novartis kindly added this recommendation to my LinkedIn profile:

Nick led the development of an innovative, cost effective and dynamic meeting app. A consummate professional he was able to take a concept and turn into a reality where significantly bigger, household names and highly regarded institutions were not! Do not under-estimate the capabilities of this man. World class was how our most senior executives described his work.

Extreme Facebook Chat on iPad

Nick Kuh — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:20:45 +0000

We’ve just launched a new app this week – Tap to Facebook Chat – all your open chat windows on one screen – extreme Facebook Chatting!

Check out the screen-grab below, Tap to Facebook Chat let’s you toggle between open chats all on the same screen, no other Facebook Chat app does this!

We’ve launched our app at just $0.99 so grab it while it’s cheap here.

Tap to Facebook Chat is a universal app so it’s also been built from the ground up to work great on iPhone and iPod too.

Tap to Facebook Chat includes multi-user login support – fast Facebook user switching on the same iPad or iPhone.

If you’ve spent time creating Facebook Friend Lists or new Facebook Groups you’ll find that Tap to Facebook Chat allows you to show just the groups of friends you want to chat to.

OS4 multitasking is also supported – you get a notification when a new chat message is received and clicking ‘Reply’ immediately drops you back in the app chatting to the user who sent the message.

In landscape mode on iPad Tap to Facebook Chat can easily display 3 open chat windows simultaneously even with the keyboard visible – just tap on whichever Friend you want to send your next message too

iOS App: Tap to Facebook Chat

Nick Kuh — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:36:35 +0000

Facebook Chat with your Friends all on one screen!

With multi-user login support, filter by friend list or group and instant message notification, Tap to Chat is the must have Chat app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad!

I developed Tap to Chat in collaboration with fellow iOS Develeper Chris Ross.

iOS App: ESPN Media Zone

Nick Kuh — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:20:15 +0000

ESPN commissioned me to develop a universal iOS App to keep users up-to-date with ESPN Press Releases, Twitter account updates and photos on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

Features Include:

- Read ESPN’s most up-to-date Press Releases

- Email press releases directly from the ESPN MediaZone app.

iPad App: Buddies Facebook Browser

Nick Kuh — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 10:30:00 +0000

Browse, share and upload Facebook photos. Update you status, add comments and check out your friend’s walls.

Facebook Chat with your friends all on one screen!

With multi-user login support, filter by friend list or group and instant message notification, Buddies Chat is the must have Facebook Chat experience!

Featured by Apple in over 50 AppStores Worldwide, Buddies is a hugely popular native Facebook browser for iPad receiving some great reviews:

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TheNextWeb.com: ★★★★ “Buddies is pretty much what an official Facebook app would look like.”

MacStories.net: “An excellent companion to the regular website which offers neat photo uploading capabilities (something you can’t do on Mobile Safari) and multi-account support”

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Hallelujah! Jayzus Decides got approved!

Nick Kuh — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 09:16:03 +0000

About a year ago a friend of mine proposed an idea for a fun entertainment iPhone / iPod Touch App.

Jesus Decides was a collaboration between 3 of us – Neil project managed, I programmed the app and Scott Suttey designed the fantastic graphics.

Jesus Decides is an app that helps users to make decisions with your friends and family – who will make the tea, get the beers in, do the washing up etc… We leave it in the hands of Jesus to pick a chosen disciple for the chore in hand.

After around 3 weeks in development and 2 weeks in Apple’s submission queue we were all hugely disappointed to receive the following rejection email from Apple:

Thank you for submitting Jesus Decides to the App Store. We’ve reviewed Jesus Decides and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains objectionable content and is in violation of Section 3.3.14 from the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement which states:

“Applications may be rejected if they contain content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, sounds, etc.) that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable, for example, materials that may be considered obscene, pornographic, or defamatory.”

If you believe that you can make the necessary changes so that Jesus Decides does not violate the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement, we encourage you to do so and resubmit it for review.

So, at the time we decided there wasn’t much we could do to make the app less *offensive* without losing the whole joke.

Over the last year, the only times people have seen Jesus Decides in action are when I’m:

demoing my apps in the pub
demoing my apps in a presentation
demoing my apps to clients

I get such a good response to this app in demos – more so than my much more complex coding achievements! So… I decided to try again…

There are just 2 changes we made to the new version of Jesus Decides which I’m happy to say got approved by Apple this morning – Haaaaaallelujah!

Name change: introducing Jayzus Decides!
On the decision making screen instead of saying ‘Our Father who art in Heaven… who shall get the beers in?’ you now get ‘Our Father who art in Devon… who shall get the beers in?’

I’ve no idea how this version got approved while the other one didn’t – maybe Apple have relaxed the rules or just lightened up a little – either way… I’ll get the beers in

Jayzus Decides: iPhone App

Nick Kuh — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:00:06 +0000

Even small decisions can lead to big arguments, and we can’t bother the real JC with all our trivial questions but he does represent a great ambassador for peace, so in the interests of promoting more peace on Earth we thought, “Who better?!” This app is intended to bring a little light-hearted fun in to your daily decision making process, so you can all stop worrying about the little things, and get on with enjoying the gift of life

Add your own groups of people (e.g. ‘pub’, ‘work’, ‘home’)
Add your own custom tasks (e.g. ‘make dinner’, ‘wash the dog’)
The first item in a group/task list automatically becomes your ‘favourite’
Decisions can be made with a single click!
Include/Exclude people from a round without removing their name.