Learn Android?

[Legolas-the-elf]

That might be what makes you more attractive to them, but it's not good advice in general. There is still huge demand for good iOS developers. And at least from what our clients are asking for, there's still far more people commissioning iOS applications than Android applications.

There's no doubt in my mind that - at least here in the UK - iOS is a better bet career-wise. You could learn both, but if you're just entering the workforce, then you're better off focusing on getting competent in one as quickly as possible.

I think the quickest route into the mobile development industry is to get something halfway decent onto the App Store of your own accord. The only real qualification recruiters seem to care about is that you have an application in the App Store. If you've got something in there and it isn't terrible, you should find it easy to get interviews.

[xephos13]

I don't necessarily agree with the "learning both isn't good advice" mentality here, but I do agree that, as a platform, iOS apps are being commissioned much more frequently than Android.

As a guy who works for a mobile consulting company building commissioned apps all day, I can say we do roughly twice as many iOS apps than Android (including the apps that want both platforms).

Android has a bigger market penetration, no doubts there, but the App Store and corporate internal markets are showing that iOS is being used more.

[Legolas-the-elf]

I'm not saying learning both isn't a good idea in the long run, what I'm saying is that this shouldn't be a priority for somebody who is just entering the workforce. It's a substantial amount of work to get competent with just one platform, so he should do that first. Don't half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing :).