Mobile Developer Survey, March 2010

When Appcelerator initially surveyed its developer base prior to Apple’s announcement in January, interest in the platform was overwhelmingly high. At that time, 90% of developers said they were very interested in building an iPad app within the year. Fast forward two months to an updated developer poll taken March 23-March 25 and we see sustained interest in the platform, but within an increasingly competitive platform landscape.

Here are the top-level findings:

• Interest in iPad remains strong, but off the wild enthusiasm in January. 80% of developers are very interested in building an iPad app within the first year vs. 90% in January. When asked about overall interest in iPad as a development platform, 53% responded that they were ‘very interested’—third behind iPhone and Android. As a point of reference, Amazon Kindle, surveyed for the first time, has only 12% of developers claiming a similar level of interest in its recently announced SDK.
• Increased competition among mobile platforms shows that Android (81% very interested in the platform) is closing in on iPhone (87%), while Blackberry (43%) and Windows Phone (34%) have doubled and nearly tripled their developer interest numbers, respectively, in just two months.
• At only 14% claiming that they are very interested in WebOS, Palm is clearly seeing waning interest among developers. Symbian clocks in at 16%, while Meego—the recently combined Maemo/Moblin effort by Nokia and Intel—comes in last at just 12%.
• Developers cited eBooks, entertainment/media applications, business applications, medical applications, and education applications as likely candidates for the iPad, consistent with January.

The full report compares the iPad’s popularity against other mobile and tablet platforms that have had their own share of news—good and bad—since January.

iPad: Strong, But Somewhat Tempered, Interest from Developers

Why this is significant: Appcelerator developers come from a uniquely broad background across iPhone, Android, PC, Mac, and Linux.  This breadth of developer interest in the iPad has remained strong, yet has tapered somewhat as the final iPad capabilities became known, such as a camera and support for multi-tasking. Moreover, developers with over 1,000 employees cited having an iPhone, Android, and/or Blackberry app as"’critical"’ while only 36% said they were very interested in the iPad.  On the other end, 54% of developers with 10 or fewer employees said they were very interested, as small companies look to claim a first-mover advantage in the App Store.

Three Tiers Emerge in Highly Competitive Marketplace

Why this is significant: In January, there was a clear separation between the top three platforms (iPhone, Android, iPad) and the rest.  But with every single vendor making news (good and bad) over the past two months, commitment to each platform has changed significantly, setting up not just two, but three ‘tiers’ to track: Leaders (iPhone, Android, and iPad), up & comers (Blackberry and Windows Phone), and laggards (Symbian, Palm, Meego, and Kindle).