Typically, how much does it increase development time to target both iPhone and iPad?

Question

As opposed to targeting just iPhone? I need to make a decision on whether to target both, but I've only done iPhone development, so I can't really estimate how much longer it would take to do both an iPhone and an iPad app. Some information about what I'm trying to do:

Uses a navigation controller on iPhone, would use a split view controller on iPad

Has three separate views in a view controller in the iPhone version that I would display all in one view on the iPad version.

So I'm wondering, in general, by how much does it increase development time to target both? How rough is the answer? And also, how is the learning curve for an iPhone developer to learn to develop for iPad? This might be difficult to answer, but even rough estimates are better than none.

Answer 1

Well, I'll answer your questions and hope that helps.

How much does it increase development time to target both? It really depends on what you are doing. If you design your classes well, all the data would be abstracted from the UI. In which case, all you have to do is redesign the UI for the iPad and it still all hooks into the same functions and back end data. This could increase development time by 1%-100%, it really depends on your scope. Think about how long it took to design the UI for the iPhone implementation, and add that time for another design for iPad, and you'll probably be in the ball park.

How rough is the answer? Very, its all scope dependent.

And also, how is the learning curve for an iPhone developer to learn to develop for iPad? Barely any learning curve at all. They both use the iOS APIs, besides a few minor differences (popovers, split views, etc) they are pretty much exactly the same.