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Android overtaking iOS as developer favourite

by Scott Bicheno on 16 August 2011, 07:00

Tags: GetJar

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Independent app store GetJar has published the results of a survey of 300 developers into which mobile platforms they are focusing on.

Right now 80 percent of devs are working on on iPhone stuff, butonly 55.6 percent of them expect to be developing for the iPhone in six months time. There is a converse swing for Android, with more developers expecting to be working on that platform in future. Here's the summary of the findings.

  • IOS:  Today 80% -> Six months from now 55.6%
  • Android: 51.2% Today -> 58% six months from now
  • IOS iPad: 59% Today -> 52% six months from now
  • Android Tablet: 20.5% Today -> 47% six months from now

 

 

As you can see from the table, around a quarter of those surveyed expect to be developing for WP7 in six months, well up from the nine percent currently working on it. Interest in web-based apps also looks solid, but the challenges faced by BlackBerry and WebOS are clear.

It's now generally accepted that strong third-party developer support is crucial to the success of a mobile platform. That's why BlackBerry is perceived to be struggling, as is webOS, and one of the main reasons Nokia gave up on both Symbian and MeeGo.

In commenting on yesterday's big news about Google buying Motorola, Mark Mason, founder of developer Mubaloo included the following:

"From a development point of view, fragmentation issues have prevented end users from receiving the same level of user experience that you find on iOS or Windows Phone. Developers have to programme apps to utilise the various tweaks from keyboard layout, SoC, screen size and resolution in order to work across the wide variety of Android devices. The news today could signal Google's recognition of this widespread issue. Following Apple and Microsoft's strategy of having control of device and OS design could be a real boost for quality development on Android."

If fragmentation was scaring developers away from Android, and the Moto deal helps to standardise the platform a bit more, then Android's gains could be set to accelerate further.

 

HEXUS Forums :: 16 Comments

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Posted by Spud1 - Tue 16 Aug 2011 09:58
With the greatest respect - I don't think we can really call this survey “independent” considering it was taken as a poll across multiple sites that are primarily dedicated to Java mobile development. Taking that into account, the results are pretty much what you would expect.

Most people are developing for iOS at present as thats where the money is (so much easer to make cash out of iPhone apps than any other at the moment), but clearly they would prefer to develop for their “native” platform, and would be planning to do so in the future - especially with the growth of android phones in the mobile space.

Personally I am aiming for cross platform development - we are investigating and prototyping with Adobe AIR since you can write once and then deploy to iOS/Android/Blackberry. Clearly there are major issues with this approach but for simple apps its quick and easy. If I wanted a new job though, i'd go iOS as there is a lot of money there at the moment. If I wanted to develop for the community/open source, i'd go down the android route as there is plenty of support and “routes to market” there.
Posted by dangel - Tue 16 Aug 2011 11:54
I think everything I've read puts iOS as more profitable right now - android per unit not so much but as it pulls forward the sheers numbers increase the userbase to a tipping point where it's probably more profitable. I'm not convinced it's there yet though.
Posted by crossy - Tue 16 Aug 2011 13:46
Spud1
Personally I am aiming for cross platform development - we are investigating and prototyping with Adobe AIR since you can write once and then deploy to iOS/Android/Blackberry. Clearly there are major issues with this approach but for simple apps its quick and easy. If I wanted a new job though, i'd go iOS as there is a lot of money there at the moment. If I wanted to develop for the community/open source, i'd go down the android route as there is plenty of support and “routes to market” there.
Interesting comment - not just the quoted bit above - thanks! :bowdown:

I thought Apple were dead set against app builders - especially the ones from the large players (so stuff like Illuminations was fine)?

Secondly, I was always under the impression that to develop for iOS there was a whole lot of expense that you had to sign up for - special tools that only ran on OSX; developer registration fees; etc. On the other hand Android and WebOS had free tools/SDK's that run on Windows, and any “developer fees” were quite low. Is this a correct summation of the situation, or is it just based on propaganda put around by the anti-Apple crowd?

I'm curious as to how difficult mobile device development is, although it does appear to the way things are going. Initially I'd assumed Android would be best for a hobbyist, but your comments raise some doubts. I'm a big fan of ‘droid personally, but there’s just as many iOS devices in the house as Android ones - so it'd be easy to pick one or the other.
Posted by Spud1 - Tue 16 Aug 2011 13:56
crossy
Is this right, or is it just propaganda put around by the anti-Apple crowd?

It is indeed propaganda..to a degree.

On one level, if you take the 100% official purist approach..developing for iOS requires a mac running 10.5 or later, an iOS device, and an apple developer account. Assuming you have nothing at all - thats £500 for a mac mini and then £60 for your developer account.

You don't /need/ any of that though - the only thing that you could say you /need/ would be the developer account, but even then that is only for publishing your apps to the app store.

You can develop on windows using a 3rd party toolset or API (e.g. adobe AIR) and then deploy to your device via iTunes - or just run it in an emulator. Apple were very strongly against systems like AIR in the past, but about a year ago the T+Cs changed in the app store, allowing these apps to be published and sold. There are plenty of alternatives to AIR - including variants of Mono/.net, and some java compilers too..but AIR has the biggest feature set if you can put up with action script (which is HORRIBLE to work with). Also makes it very easy for your graphics designer to do some pretty front end screens ;)

The purest approach is easiest and the most fun (I enjoy working in objective-c at the moment, its a refreshing change for me) but does require you to own a mac and a developer account..but it can be done without paying a penny :)

Androids developer fee is 1/4 that of iOS ($25 compared to $99), but both are still tiny compared to the traditional fees that you'd pay to develop software for a mobile device.
Posted by crossy - Tue 16 Aug 2011 16:13
Spud1
It is indeed propaganda..to a degree.On one level, if you take the 100% official purist approach..developing for iOS requires a mac running 10.5 or later, an iOS device, and an apple developer account. Assuming you have nothing at all - thats £500 for a mac mini and then £60 for your developer account. Androids developer fee is 1/4 that of iOS ($25 compared to $99), but both are still tiny compared to the traditional fees that you'd pay to develop software for a mobile device.
Hmm, I'm Mac-less, so it looks like my tinkering will be on Android - anything more than £100 for a “play around” is probably too much - certainly according to my missus it is… ;)

Of course, if I'd been clever then I would have got myself an HP TouchPad - HP are falling over themselves to get folks to develop for WebOS - at least according to the info I read.

Many, many thanks for the info. :thumbsup:

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