Ok, well I admit it: I love lists of links. Right now I am trying to think of all the Internet resources I use to help me in my iPhone business. Here is what I got so far…
Programming Help
iPhone Dev Center
The Apple developer website has a lot of code samples, documentation and even some video. The volume of content can be overwhelming at times and too much of the it reads like marketing material. However, the Apple website still is the best place to go to get comprehensive technical details about the iPhone.
Community
The Mac Developer Network
This resource offers a mix of free and premium content that includes podcasts as well as tutorial videos and blogs. Some of the topics covered include cocoa and objective-c programming as well as Mac small business issues.
iPhone Dev SDK Forum
I have found answers to almost all my specific iPhone development questions here. This is much better than the forums you will find on the Apple website.
Books
Cocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS X (3rd Edition)
This is not actually iPhone specific, but it really helped me get into the headspace of programming for Mac platforms. Many of the ideas directly map to the iPhone and most of the design patterns do as well.
The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook: Building Applications with the iPhone SDK
I use this book as a reference. It is a pretty good survey of the iPhone SDK and it also includes some “unsupported” tricks that border on hacky. However, if you want cover-flow in your app this book will show you how to do it.
Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK
DISCLAIMER: I have not tried this book yet because I was no longer a beginner when it came out. However, as far as I can see it is the only iPhone resource that appears to be directed at beginners. Also, the author has personally helped me out and he seems very knowledgeable.
Desktop Apps
AppViz
AppViz is a Mac product developed by Ideaswarm that helps you visualize how many sales you are making in the App Store. I use this as a part of my homegrown reporting system, essentially I can download all of my sales data for the week with one click of a button using this software.
iPhone / iPod Touch Backup Extractor
This freeware app does what it says it does. Useful to help you see what is in your app’s documents directory.
SQLite Database Browser
Since most of my apps depend highly on using SQLite, I find this app to be nice to help visualize my data without trying to write my own code on the phone.
Podcasts
Core Initiation
Great podcast that discusses Mac development in general – they talk about programming as well as the business end of things.
Mac Software Business
Discussions of issues related to developing software for the Mac as an independent developer.
Internet Business Mastery
This podcast inspired me to start my iPhone business. It is a frank discussion of all the things you need to know if you want to make money online including: forming an LLC, advertising, accounting, how to create a community, web hosting and so on.