Are You Sure You Want to Publish onto iPad and iPhone (IOS devices)?
To be able to distribute apps to run on any Apple IOS device you will need to acquire a Developers License from Apple. That is a condition of Apple’s terms of service and one of their requirements.
Before you go to Apple to get a Developers License, stop and ask yourself the following questions:
Do you want to distribute your apps through the Apple App Store?
This is the method of app distribution that most of us are familiar with as personal users of iPad and iPhone – where you go to get your fix of Angry Birds. An example use case would be if you are building a game that you would like to make freely available to users anywhere in the world. Or, for example, if you build an immersive training simulation that you would like to sell and distribute to home users across North America.
If the answer is ‘yes’ to this question, then you will need a license from the IOS Developer Program ($99 per year). You will receive a certificate, valid for one year that enables you to build and test apps on your IOS devices. The license also enables you and to distribute to 100 other devices via ‘ad hoc’ distribution (mainly used for wider testing of your app). You can then submit finished apps to the app store then for widespread distribution (Note – Apple have a separate review process for apps submitted for App Store distribution).
Are you part of an organization that intends to distribute your developed apps only within your organization?
For example, you may work within a global petrochemical company and wish to develop and distribute immersive simulations to workers only within your company. Or, for example you may be a state educational authority and you want to develop and distribute learning games to your students only.
If the answer is ‘yes’ to this question, then the organization would apply for an Apple Enterprise Developer License from Apple. This costs $299 per year. This would cover all developers within your organization.
Using Thinking Worlds for distributing apps within an organization
If you hold an Apple Enterprise Developer License then you have an additional distribution option using Thinking Worlds. You can acquire a Thinking Worlds launcher application to distribute apps built using Thinking Worlds easily across you organization.
The Thinking Worlds launcher application can be distributed to any person within your organization and installed on their IOS device(s). Games and simulations that you build using Thinking Worlds can then be directly distributed to your users. When the users open the Thinking Worlds launcher application on their iPad or iPhone then they will see a list of games and simlulations that they can run.
