A report featuring over 2,800 mobile developers shared their thoughts and predictions for the 2013 mobile market.
Appcelerator and the International Data Corporation (IDC) collaborated for the "Voice of the Next-Generation Mobile Developer" report and highlighted Apple is "making life more difficult for developers," Amazon's Kindle "continues to struggle," and the Google Nexus has a "Strong start."
To be precise, IDC surveyed 2,937 developers from Appcelerator Titanium between Nov 15 and Nov. 26.
Apple (iOS)
Despite the launch of new products, such as the iPhone 5, iPad Mini, and iPad 4, interest from developers have not changed and are as neutral as in the third quarter survey.
According to those surveyed, Apple is "making life more difficult for developers," despite improving the search capabilities and growth of iOS users.
"More generally, 90 [percent] of developers believe that Apple has become more difficult, or about the same, to deal with over the past three years when it comes to application submission, fragmentation, and monetization," stated the report. "This shift will open the door for other ecosystems to offer developers an opportunity. This leveling of the playing field means developers will continue to focus on multi-platform development spanning the popular operating systems so they can reach the widest possible audience rather than locking themselves into a single platform, operating system, or device."
Despite what they thought of Apple, the iOS has a higher preference by developers with 89 percent stating they are "very interested" in the iPhone and 86 percent for the iPad tablets. The preference in the iOS devices are higher than any other OS and device, comparing to Android, HTML5, Windows, and Blackberry devices.
Amazon (Android)
Just 21 percent of surveyors were "very interested" in developing apps for Amazon's Kindle tablet. The percentage is third from last place, ahead of BlackBerry phones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, with nine and seven percentage points, respectively.
The reason for the percentage, according to those surveyed, is that Amazon has not provided or convinced developers that there will be significant revenue or app opportunities.
Google (Android)
Unlike Amazon's "very interested" percentage, the interest for Google's Nexus tablets is just over 53.8 percent. Developers believe the Nexus "is a step in the right direction" in fixing Google's issues with the Android's "fragmentation and inconsistent device performance."
Overall, Android devices, not necessarily from Google, fared well. Developers were "very interested" in making apps for Android phones, at 77 percent, and 64 percent for Android tablets. The percentages for the Android and Google Nexus were behind Apple's iOS devices but ahead of HTML5 Mobile Web, Windows devices, Kindle Fire, and BlackBerry devices.
"Interest in developing applications for the popular platforms (Android, iOS, etc.) remains very high, with Android phones posting modest gains and Android tablets posting a modest drop-off (two percentage points from last quarter's survey)," according to the report. "iPhone and iPad saw gains of two and four percentage points respectively among developers who are "very interested" in developing for the platforms."
Microsoft Surface (Windows 8 Pro/Windows RT)
The good news for Microsoft is developers are "impressed" with the hardware of the Surface tablet. The bad news is developers believe Microsoft has "significant" work to do make its latest Windows operating system successful.
The opinion of the Surface tablet shows 36 percent stating it's a "nice piece of hardware" but needs a lot more than that to be successful, while 25 percent surveyed at "It is OK, but not great," and 20 percent stating it will help Windows 8 become successful. Seven-percent reported the Surface is "not compelling in the slightest."
For 2013
Developers believe Near Field Communication (NFC) will be common for devices next year, with 57.5 percent. The percentage is telling as Windows Phone 8 devices, such as the Nokia Lumia 920 and Samsung Galaxy S3 with the Android operating system has adopted the NFC, unlike Apple with the iPhone 5 despite heavy rumors during the summer of 2012.
A prediction for 2013 also involves the impact of Facebook. Developers believe the social media company will lose its social dominance while 62 percent believe it will break into the mobile market.
To obtain the report, click here.
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