Despite what Google’s Eric Schmidt would have you believe, developers still prefer Apple’s iOS platform over any other mobile operating system. More importantly, the vast majority of programmers don’t think a rumored introduction of a taller iPhone this fall will complicate their life as adapting their apps to a larger canvas shouldn’t be a biggie…
In a research note to clients relayed by Barron’s, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster notes that his survey of a hundred developers during WWDC shows that most developers still prefer writing apps for the Apple ecosystem over Android devices.
iOS beat other platforms on ease of development and revenue potential with percentages of 84 percent and 64 percent, respectively.
55 of those surveyed also develop for Android, 14 also develop for Windows, and 9 also develop for BlackBerry.
We believe that Apple’s loyal developer base will continue to develop cutting edge apps for iOS that will draw in new customers, helping to fuel continued growth in iOS device sales.
The analyst also wrote that on a scale of one to ten, a rumored four-inch iPhone scored 3.4 in terms of how difficult it would be to adapt apps to a larger canvas, leading him to conclude that “the introduction of new screen sizes would not affect the success or availability of the apps on iOS”.
Two problems with this survey:
1. it’s biased as most WWDC attendees were people who make a living on iOS
2. sample size is too small
Android chief Andy Rubin tweeted ahead of the WWDC keynote that Google is now seeing an astounding 900,000 device activations each day.
Google’s Play Store for Android apps seems to be catching up, having recently passed the 500,000 app milestone versus 650,000 apps on the App Store.
What do you think, how long before developers’ preference tilts toward Android?