You probably don't have the next Yelp on your hands, but you might have a killer idea, with no clue where to get started. But Apple wants to help you out. A new patent reveals that it could be cooking up an authoring tool that would let you build iOS apps, even if you don't know code.
Learning CSS, for example, is time consuming and tedious—much like learning Spanish or another language. However, Apple's proposed tool would set you up with everything you need to build an app without any previous knowledge.
The tool would also cater to programmers, making it possible to write software for several screen sizes at the same time. Apps could be created to work on the iPhone and iPad, as well as TVs and computers. Those with more finely-honed technical skills could hand-edit code, too.
But if you're an amateur, you'd be able to choose from various templates to make, say, a tic tac toe game or an interactive menu, as the patent explains. Then you could add in different pieces, additional pages, and configure the design and layout.
Though Apple regularly secures the rights to patents it doesn't necessarily use, it's worth pointing out that Google has had a similar tool, App Inventor, since July 2010. With the close of Google Labs back in December, it was moved over to MIT's Center for Mobile Learning, but Google Research provides funding. [AppleInsider]