Spoiler: At no point in the story does the author download Xcode.
His app could have had a working version on the store in 2 weeks, if he'd really tried. It would benefit from further work, but would have proved his point.
Instead, he got dazzled by how much work the -best- apps take and gave up. It's like looking at a guitar and realizing how much work it takes to become a rockstar, and just giving up before you've even picked the thing up.
Most people aren't rockstars, and most apps don't hit #1 on -any- list.
Yes, she literally just Googled "how do you make an app?", saw that it was hard, and is now reporting this to us.
Of course, the know-how for doing that takes time to develop as well.
But, if this reporter's real goal was getting an app done, rather than writing a story, she probably would have spoken to more people who had actually hired devs for short projects. Instead, she seems to have spoken to just enough people to get usable quotes for the story.
She never switches from the layperson's "invent" terminology (a misnomer for the ideas-into-functions process of software development) and is only ever hand-wavy about going rates for expert help. There is someone out there who has the expertise to make a simple version 1 of her app in 2 weeks or less; how much does that person charge?
I mean, I could build a pretty amazing garage sale-finding app for that much, but I think Brandon Tennant either builds apps that are part of larger marketing campaigns (and only sees part of that budget), or is completely exaggerating in the hopes of landing a really big fish from that article. Or the author misunderstood him.
I had an associate who would usually work with me to bring his web-based ideas to life. He decided to see if he could create one of his web-app ideas himself, and after realizing that it meant spending HOURS in front of the screen, piecing together a complicated puzzle of code while switching gears here and there to be a creative designer as well, it became evident that it wasn't a walk in the park.
"Trying" for some people will consist of searching Google for a magic spell that makes your ideas come to life.
Developcus Appeomus!
Edit: I actually think it's a little sad when you think about it. You know those steps for after "Google it" comes up blank, the ones like "Check if there are two things I can combine to do this" or "Look at the file format, maybe it's just tab-separated or something"? Those steps don't exist for most people.
This must be how mechanics feel about cars, huh.
Arguably, the easiest way to make a "quick" iphone app, is to write a web app with a UI optimized for mobile and put it on a server and give out the URL. The app won't feel quite like a native app, it won't be able to run background tasks, each time you run it, it'll probably need to load all of the resources, but it's a great way to quickly test your concept, it'll work on all mobile platforms, and you won't have to get it approved by an app store.