I can only guess but it can be a daunting prospect to get things portable. Could be their DAW abstraction or their graphics framework that causes them massive work. And let’s get real here. It’s not exactly a lucrative market. We charge much less on iOS than we do on desktop for several reasons (among them no method for resale). Yet when we launched on iOS people were shocked at our high prices (we’re not making yet another compressor or 3 band eq we’re doing complicated original stuff at the highest audio quality). We are just two people and want to make a modest income. (We would earn way way more in typical software jobs). So yeah I suspect it’s just not worth it to these larger companies. Especially with the Apple cut.
Fellow audio developer here. Yes, the iOS market is rubbish. I spoke to some DAW companies, and they all said they sell their iOS apps at a loss - they don't cover the costs of developing them. It only makes sense when you think of iOS apps as a promotion to sell their desktop counterparts.
Which is a shame because I think the iPhone is a beautiful device for musicians. A fantastic microphone, right in your pocket.
I kind of knew the answer when I posted the question. It's also hard to properly price something like an audio plugin, right? Niche customer base, poor customer base (musicians)… the people making money, audio engineers and such, want to work on the "best" hardware for their job, which basically means a traditional computer.
I do believe that using a modern touchscreen interface to creative software unlocks more potential than simply using a keyboard and mouse. Touching interfaces to control sound just seems like it would hold a lot more creative potential energy to me.
