Are there any plans to provide iOS app build support under Windows, just like UDK, Flash CS5 Airplay-SDK offers, without the dependency on the Mac iOS SDK?
It will make Unity more useful for large amount of people.
Currently that’s the only reason that prevents me for buying the iOS version and convert my game into the iOS platform.
No, Unity iOS depends on XCode, which doesn’t run on Windows. I don’t see that this dependency will ever go away, because it’s what allows you to not be stuck with what Unity implements, but can add your own iOS code (see the various plugins for Game Center integration and so on).
–Eric
check this article i hope you clear all things in your mind
A nice solution would be if Unity for Windows will be able to build the ipa files directly without plugins and the Mac version will be still depended on XCode to provide extra plugins like GameCenter.
Most of the developers in the world uses the Windows environment for developing, the Mac environment is very limited (you have to buy the whole computer from Apple)
Is it possible to write a plugin that build iOS application from Windows? or it must be Unity implementation?
what article?
No you can not write that.
UT could but it will pretty surely not happen cause plugins would cease to work on windows, which is crucial if you want to go anywhere as an Indie on the AppStore (you lose inapp store, gamekit, game center, admob / iad, media player control if you want the user to continue listening to their music library, …)
Also so far Apple has been nice, they did neither sue Adobe nor Epic for the license and copyright inf they do by missusing the code and libraries that are property of Apple outside OSX and the iOS SDK, required to do any building on Windows at all…
If you really want to develop mobile Unity applications without a Mac, you can get Unity Android. Otherwise just accept what the development requirements for iOS are…I doubt any Mac users who are interested in developing for Windows Phone 7 complain about why that requires Windows for development.
–Eric
This comparison is not quite fair. Most of the people in the world uses Windows OS as primary environment so it’s reasonable to be a requisite for development and secondly Windows OS doesn’t require you to buy an Microsoft PC, you can install it on any PC includes your Mac.
That’s why Unity should implement support for Windows - I even think that’s a smart financial move.
Anyway, thanks for the replies so far, I hoped that Unity members would answer according to the development roadmap.
Again, you lose major aspects even if UT supported it (as mentioned, plugins are gone the moment you tried it, as is the possibility to ever debug it and going for a limited mobile platform without debug possibility is one of the most stupid things at all. you don’t think you will go through for long on the iOS platform when you get crash reports you ignore rigorously cause you can not fix them at all) and you are violating your developer contract with Apple aside of that.
Also Windows on Mac is only possible cause Apple supports it, otherwise it wouldn’t work (I remember the startout of OSX on X86 when Bootcamp did not exist, as many others do)
As eric mentions, if you don’t want to buy an osx machine, you don’t have to, there is always android, for which you can legally develop without contract breach using Windows
Roadmap: UT does not talk nor dispose anything about roadmaps to the public in general. There was a single exception in the past 3 years and I guess it will remain an exception actually.
Thanks for the replies. I didn’t know it possible to debug Unity code when running on the device.
BTW Mac Os actually can run on any x86 PC but unfortunately apple doesn’t allow it.
OSX actually only runs on X86 since 10.6 
The problem is that apple only supports a very limited set of hardware, basically theirs and they use EFI, something those fu**ing PC hardware manufacturers still avoid to refuse to use although Windows supported it for years now.
I really hope that MS cuts BIOS in any future Windows release to ensure that we will never again see it, cause being forced to make partitions on a RAID just cause BIOS is that crapshit that it can’t go beyond 2TB partitions sux
BTW, no matter what, you’ll still need a Mac to deploy to the App Store(s), no matter what engine you’re using.
UDK for IOS export and macincloud for submission - works great. Later, Unity 
Goodbye, goodbud, who registered the forum on the day of his one and only post ever which was to plug UDK and then leave.
Nothing sketchy about that and of course you will be sorely missed.
Later, goodbud!
I’m not actually surprised that mac do this. For each game developed they must make 1 sale of a Mac OS. This is a very underhanded way of making a few extra sales on their part. whatever respect and trust mac has gained from me Over the last 10 years was just lost when I found this out. I would have considered buying a mac myself for dev testing and quick publishing purposes but by comparison my pc cost under 1k and its a big rig where as the equivalent mac costs over 2k which is money I would rather spend on a pro licence for unity. They spit about making mac iOS and the mac pc’s easier to develop for and then they do somethiing like this. this of course alienates themselves. I myself have been looking foreward to taking advantage of my apple developer status.
I get that you guys at Unity have your hands tied on this one.
One big question I have is this: Can I port my W7 pc built project onto a Mac OS?
That’s a huge overreaction. What platform do you need if you want to develop for Windows Phone 7? Right, Windows. There’s no more incentive for Microsoft to port all their developer stuff over to OS X than there is for Apple to do likewise. (And since Android is neither Microsoft nor Apple, it makes sense to be able to develop for it on any platform.)
–Eric
I suppose your right Eric, I was tired and fed up last night. 
But my income is very low and I am trying to retrain ino a new field after my previous work went belly up during the recession. (I feel bad for the older generation with families who know little but the 20-30 years in construction and don’t have my options of retraining) I’m just upset that I have poured money into my machine and have been trying to save for a unity pro licence which is a stepping stone towards my goals and I’m met with this wall. windows is €xxx and mac is €x,xxx and all because of a hardware dependancy.
By the way to all the guys in Unity Thank You for providing us with such an accessable platform, which is so easy to develop for. I apreciate everything you’ve done, and without you guys and Unity I would never have been able to follow the dream of an 8 year old boy who once typed /run\wolf3d and saw the future he desired. expect my money on your doorstep one day soon 
a sufficient mac, ie the cheapest mac mini on the apple store, is like €500, thats far from expensive for a ‘microbox’ that you can put wheever you have enough space for a cup of coffee 
the cheapest required notebook would be the air or just any other currently sold one. Simply put: every single mac sold by apple at the time is more than enough for iOS dev normally
The only requirement iOS dev has is a mac capable of running OSX Lion / 10.7 as thats what XCode 4.3+ require which is required to even use 5.1 devices for dev
well get a mac mini for 500 bucks and everything is heaven. you can run both osx and windows natively on the machine…there is no real issue here…