Need a mac. There is a free version on Developer.apple.com , but you cannot submit to App Store or run the apps on your device
Yes, you may find it difficult, but I, for one, will do all that I can to help you! So many people have helped me (namely Andrew Schenk of Schenk Studios And Arkanigon), so there are many people that will lend you a hand, thats for sure. Good luck!
It does take time and effort. But overall I don't think it is that hard... You will be frustrated at times, so you need to have patience... The beginning is the hardest... but after some time you'll get used to it. And there are plenty of resources... videos, tutorials...
Well I've starting developing and I'm finding it easy enough. And I'm only thirteen. There are certain elements to it that you will have to wrap your head around, like the code but there are plenty of good books and screen casts to walk you through it. Interface Builder ( Where you design your UI ) is a breeze, though it's somewhat limited. Take WastedYuthe par example, on his blog he's announced his first game called Fist Of Justice. [see thread] He's only been programming for about 3 months and that is the kind of stuff he's kicking out!
Anything from 2006 onwards is an intel based mac. So yes, they will run the sdk. If you have a ppc mac, you technically can run the sdk using a little something called Pacifist if you really want to.
I'd say very--but worth the effort--if you're going in cold with no programming and game design experience. NOT very in my case with some ECMAscript experience (and using the Unity engine--best purchase I ever made). My game's only alpha but it has come a lot farther than I'd have thought for the time I've put in (about 2 weeks pre-iPhone, then a day of work with the iPhone tools--and it's rough but playable).
