Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 4) - iPhone

Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 1) - Palm webOS
Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 2) - Android
Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 3) - BlackBerry

Today we conclude this HOWTO series with the iPhone. Like the other mobile device platform companies, Apple provides everything we need to create a simple app so that we will have an understanding of how to test those apps. And it meets our cost goal - the SDK is free (if you know where to look) and you can create and test your iPhone app without having to buy an iPhone.

If you visit the iPhone Developer Program page, you'll end up being asked to join the program for a fee.  And that makes sense if you want to be able to create and publish your iPhone app, but we just want to learn what it takes to develop and test an app by downloading the SDK for free.  What you want to do is sign up as a Registered iPhone Developer. And if you have already have an iTunes, Apple Online Store or MobileMe account, you can use your existing Apple ID to sign in and become a registered iPhone developer. It's easy and takes a few seconds to do. Once you're registered, then you can access the iPhone Dev Center to download the SDK.

After you register and then log in to the iPhone Dev Center, you can download the SDK here. Once downloaded and installed, then you're ready to create your app and run it on the iPhone simulator. And luckily, there's a tutorial for that - Tutorial: Hello, World! This tutorial takes through these steps:

1. Create the Project
2. Write the Code
3. Run the Application

Seems simple enough, and fortunately the tutorial has pictures and clear descriptions for each step.  When you're done, I recommend you setup Apple's iPhone Configuration Tool and run your app with the console window open.  There you'll be able to log application and system level warnings.  By knowing what's being reported when interacting with an app can help you refine the steps you need to reproduce tricky (and memory related) problems.