Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesEducation Technology

Building Applications for IOS and Android

For app developers, it isn’t always apples and oranges – or, in this case, Apple or Android. There are similarities and differences between developing applications for iOS and Android. To help host Tyler Kern clarify them, Kern enlisted the expertise of two Shockoe developers. John Surface leads the Mobile Development Android team, and Justin…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Education Technology teams put it to work with Executive Thought Leadership.

·
Share
Building Applications for IOS and Android

Free workspace

Turn your Education Technology expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI on a free trial of the MarketScale platform for qualifying companies. No demo required, no credit card.

Try it Free

For app developers, it isn’t always apples and oranges – or, in this case, Apple or Android. There are similarities and differences between developing applications for iOS and Android. To help host Tyler Kern clarify them, Kern enlisted the expertise of two Shockoe developers.

John Surface leads the Mobile Development Android team, and Justin Boswell leads the Mobile Development iOS team. These two leaders may develop on opposite sides of the mobile platform fence, but their mission for creating state-of-the-art applications is the same.

Surface found the support of the large Android developer community as a strength that benefits his job.

“I think there is a small learning curve for a lot of developers getting into Android because you started with Java, which a lot of people learn in school,” Surface said. “So, there’s an easy entry point into then translating that into learning Android. The developer community ends up being more open, and there’s a lot more support out there.”

In addition to the large Android developer community, Surface said submitting apps to the app store is typically more manageable with more minor requirements than iOS. However, there are far more types of Android devices on the market than iOS devices, which means developers need to think through many additional considerations, such as varying processor speeds and screen sizes.

Boswell shared his thoughts on some of the advantages and positives of developing iOS devices.

“For me, it’s always been working within the Apple ecosystem,” Boswell said. “All of the tools they provide work seamlessly together. There’s a lot of first-party support, community integration, and making things look like Apple products. The X-code that Apple provides, we have to work with them, a Mac OS system, to develop those applications. It makes the part, from development to publishing the application and using it across all of those devices, a real pleasure to use.”

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Education Technology starts with a company putting its implementation leads, instructional designers, and district partners on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Procurement teams read long before they ever call, and your implementers get to answer their questions first.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Education Technology, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Education Technology: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Education Technology buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free Trial

You just read one Education Technology expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your implementation leads, instructional designers, and district partners into the articles, video, and social content Education Technology buyers are searching for. Start a free trial and see it with your own people. For qualifying companies, no credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What your free trial includes

Hands-on access to the MarketScale platform
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
No demo required. No credit card.
For qualifying companies. Company confirmation required.

More Education Technology Insights

Hawkeye Community College to lead Iowa STRONG Workforce Pell push

Hawkeye Community College to lead Iowa STRONG Workforce Pell push

Part of the Iowa STRONG grant funds wage-record reporting and outcomes tracking. Hawkeye's own focus on HVAC, CDL and CNC machining suggests which employers could benefit first.

  • 01Part of the grant goes to wage-record reporting and outcomes data, which suggests Iowa plans to track how its new short-term programs perform.
  • 02Employers watching HVAC, CDL, CNC or pharmacy tech training may want to track which Hawkeye programs win federal Workforce Pell approval first.

Sep 29, 2026

ASU’s Work+ aims to make campus jobs count toward career readiness

ASU’s Work+ aims to make campus jobs count toward career readiness

Higher ed has long measured success by completion, but ASU’s research into noncompleters found many questioning whether college is worth the time and money right now. ASU’s Work Plus initiative redesigns on-campus jobs around skill development, while ASU also pursues work-integrated learning across degrees to reduce reliance on external internships that can exclude students without time or means.

  • 01Shift from time-to-completion to time-to-value: ASU found noncompleters want value they can feel now, not only at graduation
  • 02The Work Plus Collective includes 37 partner institutions and uses user-centered design, spending time with supervisors, student employees, and administrators before proposing changes to student employment.
  • 03Institutions must fix systems-level hiring barriers and curriculum approval bottlenecks before redesigning programs; institutionalizing changes takes multiple years per campus

Sep 29, 2026

Impact Public Schools wants software to sort students into intervention tiers

Impact Public Schools wants software to sort students into intervention tiers

Impact Public Schools, a Washington charter network, wants a custom tool that sorts students into Tier 1-3 groups from benchmark data and recommends interventions for students in Tiers 2 and 3. Proposals are due Oct. 9. Missouri's North Kansas City Schools wants a dashboard that consolidates data from its student information system and its assessment, attendance and behavior systems. Side by side, the requests suggest one buyer wants to see its data and the other wants to act on it.

  • 01A decade after the national ed-tech plan made dashboards a priority, a 1,751-student charter network is asking software to do the student grouping itself and recommend Tier 2 and 3 interventions.
  • 02North Kansas City's dashboard request is a useful spec to measure against: student information, assessment, attendance and behavior data in one platform, built for district leaders, principals and teachers.

Sep 27, 2026

Explore More Education Technology Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Education Technology.

Browse Education Technology Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Education Technology and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512