I want to thank everyone for attending yesterday's Mobile DevCon!  It was really great to meet so many of you and to learn about the different types of mobile projects you are / will be working on.

There are two points that I want to follow-up on from my iOS seminar.  The first is regarding the free developer account from Apple.  I had stated that if you sign up with Apple, you'll be able to download Xcode for free.  During the break, an attendee mentioned that he wasn't able to download Xcode 4 (though Xcode 3 was available).  Instead, there were two options: upgrade to a paid account or pay for Xcode 4 via the Mac App Store.  Another person who heard our conversation told me that he had a free account and was able to download Xcode 4.  Looking at various blogs online, I saw the same "you can't get this" / "yes you can" debates.

So, this morning I followed up with Apple to find out the specifics: With the free account you are able to download Xcode, but only "GA" versions.  Xcode 4 is still considered "beta," so you do need to have a paid account to download the latest version for free.  Another option is to purchase the software from the Mac App Store: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xcode/id422352214?mt=12  There is no ETA on when Xcode 4 will be considered "GA."

The second point is a correction I want to make in regard to the iOS Simulator.  I had a minor brain freeze when a question came in as I was configuring the code demo:  "Is there a simulator for the iPad?"  For whatever reason, my brain took that as "Is there another simulator for the iPod (touch)", so I said: "No."  The correct answer, of course, is that there is a simulator for the iPad.  You can access this through the schemes:

or through the simulator itself (Device -> iPad):

Don't forget that you can download all of the Mobile DevCon slides at: http://bit.ly/mobiledevcon and my sample iOS code project at http://bit.ly/mobiledevconioscode - (be sure to read the "ReadMe.rtf" file for instructions on adding GData to the project!)