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iOS 7 Tech Talks logo

This year Apple organized iOS 7  Tech Talks – an event for all developers interested in new technologies introduced along with iOS 7. For two days iOS 7 Tech Talks took place in several cities around the world and I had the luck to be one of developers selected to attend the event in London.

In 2013 Apple split iOS 7 Tech Talks sessions into two separate agendas: App Developer Day and Game Developer Day. The first one addressed all new technologies introduced with iOS 7, and the second day was dedicated to mobile game developers.

This is a major change when comparing to previous Apple events. For the first time Apple organized separate sessions for growing mobile gaming industry specialists. It makes sense, as more than a half of applications available for iPhone and iPad are games.

App Developer Day

On App Developer Day Apple not only summarized all important features introduced during WWDC, but got their evangelists out to talk with developers on a more personal basis. The agenda contained sessions about making applications ready for iOS 7 look and feel. Apple focused on the most desired topics, giving hints on how to learn additional development techniques.

There was also a huge amount of information about modern architecture and coding efficient, bug free apps that support new 64-bit hardware, the M7 motion co-processor and other cool features like iBeacons. With introduction of new standards for isolating and encrypting user’s vulnerable data in iOS 7, Apple leveled up in making their products more secure.

Major security topics were covered during the iOS 7 Tech Talks, focusing on most common issues that were detected in applications submitted in the past, as well as new security guidelines.

Game Developer Day

The Game Developer Day agenda contained introduction to new frameworks developed especially for producing mobile games for iOS devices. Advanced optimization techniques were discussed, which will allow us to develop more sophisticated games taking advantage of the latest Apple hardware.

Apple didn’t miss the chance to encourage developers on using Sprite Kit – the first framework introduced by the company to help in development of 2D games that use build in physics engine. Apart from 2D games, more advanced technologies were also briefly explained during the OpenGL ES for iOS session.

New frameworks that allow using dedicated game controllers were also covered, but we’ll have to wait for such hardware to become more popular and globally available, which is sure to happen in near future.

Distribution and marketing

On both Application and Developer Days, Apple evangelists focused not only on making great applications using new technologies, but also talked about marketing and monetization in App Store. During those talks several topics were covered, like business point of view on App Store capabilities and advanced marketing features that allow app owners to reach a wider audience and sell their apps successfully.

iOS 7 Tech Talks: Developer point of view

The biggest advantage for iOS 7 Tech Talks attendees was to be able to talk with Apple’s evangelists and do short Q&A sessions.

I had the unique opportunity to discuss about iOS technologies with more that forty Apple employees. They were very well prepared and willing to discuss any question asked. It was fun and educational talking about applications architecture, and solving the engineering problems that stuck in my head while working on iOS apps at EL Passion.

As promised Apple published all session videos for registered developers on their website. If you’re serious about iOS development and growing your app market, I highly recommend you to watch the iOS 7 Tech Talks sessions online!

The post originally appeared on EL Passion’s blog:
iOS 7 Tech Talks 2013 through the eyes of an iOS developer