Use Visual Studio to develop an Apple cell phone App

[Bobbles]

I wrote a small VB6 program (calculates/converts for his trade) for a friend some time ago.
He uses it all the time, and keeps nagging me to learn how to develop it into an app for his Apple mobile phone.
I am not an apple fan, plus it appears to be a massive learning curve.
If I were to go down the path of a learning curve, the following is more appealing to me, as it equips me perhaps to develop more functionality for a bigger program that I also wrote for him (EG make it web based, etc).
I do not know if the following is possible/feasible, so I thought I might ask you experts -

Is it possible for me to purchase one of the Visual Studio products, that is capable of developing apps that can run on Apple phones/pads ?
If they (Visual Studio) can cater for this, that would appear to be a better training investment for my 73 year old neurons.

[Arnoutdv]

I have no experience with this, but I found some links:

Marmalade, VS add on, not free:
https://www.madewithmarmalade.com/bl...io-develop-ios

Xamarin might be an option, but I'm not sure whether you can really compile the App without OSX.
http://xamarin.com/

There was also Nomad, but this seems to be retired:
http://vsnomad.com/

[Arnoutdv]

Another option:
http://phonegap.com/

[Bobbles]

Arnoutdv,
Thanks for responding, I will check those out

Rob
(midnight in Vic Australia)

[dday9]

I've heard great things about xamarin, although I've personally never used it. Just my 2¢

[NeedSomeAnswers]

Have you thought about creating a responsive design Web App?

By setting the View Port of your web app, using Media Queries and using the correct styles you can create a web app that re-sizes itself for tablets and mobiles.

You could then use Visual Studio and ASP.Net ( + HTML, CSS, and JavaScript)

With VS2013 community edition being completely free this would be a no cost option !!!

Another option:
http://phonegap.com/

May very well be a good option but be aware it doesn't create native IPhone apps, it uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

I would say your going to find it difficult to develop a native IPhone app without doing it on a Mac with Swift or Objective C. I looked into this not long ago for work.

Your only options for working inside VS and creating Native apps are the following....

I've heard great things about xamarin

Yeh i had a looked into Xamarin too, the main problem being its cost, its pretty expensive!!

Marmalade, VS add on, not free:
https://www.madewithmarmalade.com/bl...io-develop-ios

I have to say i have never heard of Marmalade before, and its sounds good although the same as Xamarin there is a cost involved.

If you were going to develop more Mobile apps, either for work or as a hobbyist then it may be worth it but i would hesitate to spend for a one off project!!

[Bobbles]

Thank you for providing alternatives (and clarifications) for me to consider.
I definitely will consider all the alternatives that all the members have contributed to this thread.

Much appreciated,
Rob