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?
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.