Apple always had separate developer programs for its two major platforms, Mac and iOS, since the beginning of time, but this routine has been changed this year by the Cupertino giant. Apple has now announced a single, unified developer platform for both MacOS and iOS and the new Watch OS as well.
They have merged the two developer programs into a single Apple Developer Program. The softwares used before are now combined into one and thus we get more versatility from a single program.
The software is available for $99 and it comes with access to the SDKs for (and prerelease builds) of OS X, iOS 9, and WatchOS 2. Apps can also be distributed for all platforms through this program. A help page for existing users to transition to this new program has also been created.
Developer teams who were earlier separately enrolled in one of the developer programs (MacOS or iOS) will have a separate transition phase, while those enrolled in both will have a different transition.
For those in either of the dev programs, if you enrolled as an individual, your account has been automatically updated. To access development resources for Apple platforms, you can simply sign in to Member Center and accept the new program license agreement. Your membership expiration date and number of Technical Support Incidents have not changed. If you signed in as an organisation, your account has been automatically updated. Your Team Agent will need to sign in to Member Center and accept the new program license agreement in order for your team to access development resources for Apple platforms.
For those who enrolled for both MacOS and iOS dev programs earlier, everything else remains similar to the ones mentioned above, except your expiration date. It ha now been extended to include the sum of the days that remained in each program.
More details about the unified platform are expected to come out in coming sessions at Apple’s WWDC.
