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Appcelerator developers warm to Windows Phone, give BlackBerry the cold shoulder
As the year winds to a close, it seems that developer sentiments have shifted since we last checked in with Appcelerator and its opinionated community of coders. In a survey performed in conjunction with IDC, the results suggest a steady interest to develop for smartphones and tablets of the iOS and Android variety, but also reveal a punctuated surge in enthusiasm for Windows Phone. The platform experienced an eight percent uptick since last quarter, with developers citing Nokia's involvement as a primary motivating factor. While Microsoft's OS still lags significantly behind the front-runners, it has significantly separated itself from other competitors. For instance, interest in BlackBerry smartphones fell by seven percent, to roughly half that of Windows Phone. It should be noted that this survey doesn't reflect the development community as a whole, but merely of Appcelerator Titanium users -- if you're curious, the product is a cross-platform development environment for mobile apps. While the 2,160 respondents may not perfectly represent reality, we wouldn't be surprised if they were darn close.
Appcelerator: iOS still has highest developer interest, Kindle Fire heating up
The latest Appcelerator survey says developers are still most interested in putting together apps for the iOS platform, with 91 percent of them "very interested" in developing for the iPhone, and 88 percent going for the iPad. iOS 5 was also cited by developers surveyed as the most significant announcement for mobile in the last quarter. But just because iOS is leading the pack doesn't mean developers aren't still looking at other platforms. In fact, the Kindle Fire is shooting up the charts of developer interest, and it's sitting at just a few points lower (49 compared to 53 percent) than the iPad was back when it launched. Android in general has been tempting developer interest, but the Kindle Fire specifically has developers giving it a serious look. That said, reviews are coming out today on the Fire (just as the device is shipping), and they say that the device doesn't have much to offer besides price when compared to the iPad. But as any freemium developer knows, a cheaper price can make for a bigger install base. If the Kindle Fire turns out to burn up the tablet charts, we could see more developers heading off to that platform in the future.
Appcelerator launches app store for app components
Stick with us on this one -- Appcelerator has just launched an App Store, but not for apps. Instead, it's for components for apps, offering designs, templates, extensions, and other tools to app developers, who can then use those to make mobile apps for various other app stores, including Apple's own iOS marketplace. These components allow devs (for a cost or for free) to put together apps with various kinds of features together quickly and relatively easily, either leaving more time for iteration and design, or simply allowing releases to happen faster. Most of the components on the store make use of Appcelerator's Titanium platform, which is a cross-OS setup for developing both web and native mobile apps, so any developers interested in using these components will probably need to check that out first. But once you've got that down, Appcelerator's new market is a sort of a meta-marketplace, offering pre-made services and components to devs who have more money than time to spend on development. Essentially, this is just another indicator of how popular and gigantic the mobile app market is -- there are marketplaces for even the components that make up the apps that are selling so well.
Survey: Developer interest in iOS highest and growing
Nielsen may be reporting that Android is growing in desire among consumers, but for developers, iOS is still the platform of choice. A survey by Appcelerator with help from IDC says that developers still favor iOS for making their mobile apps. A full 91 percent of devs surveyed said that they were "very interested" in making apps for iPhone, and 86 percent of those surveyed would like to make apps for iPad. In fact, the iPad has just recently risen up over the Android platform, which sits after a short fall at just 85 percent of developers saying they're "very interested" to code apps for it. Obviously, these numbers can't be used to proclaim that any one of these platforms are more or less healthy than the others -- mobile in general is big right now because it's such a growing market (and can be very lucrative for talented developers). But Android is still working out some kinks in terms of supporting development, while Apple has more of a tried-and-true solution. Developers in the survey said that Android fragmentation among devices as well as multiple app stores are keeping them away from projects on that platform. Microsoft and RIM, on the other hand, are still waiting on customer adoption -- the new BlackBerry PlayBook is at 20 percent interest among developers, and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform is only a little higher than that. At this point in time, Apple has everything developers want: a developer toolkit that's powerful and relatively easy to use, lots of customers ready to spend money on apps, and a big install base with a solid future. It's no wonder devs like iOS so much.
Windows Phone and BlackBerry struggle to attract developer attention
We're taking this with a grain of salt, since it applies only to users of the cross-platform Appcelerator Titanium development environment, but it appears that Windows Phone 7 is facing an increasingly uphill battle for mobile mind-share. At this point it should go without saying that a platform lives and dies by its developers and, according to Appcelerator, they're growing less and less interested in creating apps for Microsoft's smartphone OS. Only 29-percent of devs responded to the company's quarterly survey that they were "very interested" in putting their wares on WP7, a fall of 7 points from last quarter and far less than market leaders Android and iOS. News is even worse for RIM, which saw a fall of 11-points in developer interest for BlackBerry, and now trails the folks from Redmond. Again, this survey is based only on the responses of 2,760 developers using a particular product, so we'd refrain from calling the results incontrovertible. Still, it reinforces something that even a casual observer could discern: BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 have a tough row to hoe. Two more charts after the break.
