What 2400 App Developers Really Think

Taken September 14-16, the Appcelerator/IDC Q4 Mobile Developer Report shows while Apple leads in iPhone/iPad interest, developers favor Android in the long-term.

•72% of developers say Android “is best positioned to power a large number and variety of connected devices in the future,” (compared to 25% for iOS).  59% of developers now favor Android’s long-term outlook, vs. 35% for iOS (this gap has widened 10 points since a survey last June).

•Yet Apple iOS continues to dominate in all categories relating to market/revenue opportunity and current devices. iPhone continues to lead overall developer sentiment with 91% saying they are “very interested” in developing for the device (compared to 82% for Android phones).

•Developers show enthusiasm for connected TVs, with 44% saying they are ‘very interested’ in developing for Google TV vs. 40% for Apple TV.

•Android tablets are poised for developer lift-off with 62% expressing strong interest, Android has similar enthusiasm to the iPad at a similar point in time (last January showed iPad at 58%).

•Research shows webOS and BlackBerry tablets currently have little interest from developers (16% for both)...

Developers make significant use of third-party APIs. The study reveals the battles going on behind-the-scenes between these popular developer plug-ins (% of respondents say they currently use or will soon use the following APIs in a mobile application):

•Social: Facebook slightly leading Twitter 65% to 60%, with Foursquare trailing at 22%.

•Commerce: iOS in-app purchasing and PayPal payments are also locked 49% to 48% in a head-to-head battle for mobile commerce leadership. Of note, PayPal is nearly as popular as Google Checkout (33%) and Amazon (18%) combined. PayPal also leads iOS in developer popularity in Europe and Asia.

•Media: Use of the camera (58%) far exceeds use of popular photo sharing services Flickr (21%) and TwitPic (19%). Stronger interest in using the camera for barcode scanning (31%) and augmented reality (41%) shows developers have bigger plans for mobile phones than simple photo sharing.•Advertising: iAd (52%) leads AdMob (36%) with developers noting a preference for iAd’s richer ad units and higher click-through rates, even as fill rate remains an issue.

•Analytics: Application analytics (54%) is currently the most popular form of analytics, however there is strong interest in transaction (42%) and geo-analytics (35%) as location and commerce take center stage in mobile.

Four out of five developers say their users prefer native applications to mobile websites because of user experience expectations. When ranking features needed for their apps, developers prioritize native features as most important (% of developers using or planning to use feature):

1.Native user interface (91%)
2.Local database (81%)
3.Push notifications (74%)
4.Web services/Internet connectivity (72%)
5.Geo-location (69%)
6.Facebook integration (65%)
7.Google maps (62%)
8.Twitter integration (60%)
 9.Camera support (58%)
10.Filesystem (56%)
11.Application analytics (54%)
12.iAd (52%)
13.Audio/Video playback (50%)
14.iOS in-app payments (49%)
15.PayPal payments (48%)

Go Appcelerator/IDC Study

Amazon Enters the App Store Jungle

It's a no-brainer: Amazon will open an Android app-store business. Press reports say the company has already sent welcome kits to tempt some developers.

Their main competition would be Google’s Android market (about 90,000 apps) and others such as AndSpot and SlideMe who already offer an independent Android app store. 

Unlike Apple's App Store (with 250,000 apps), Google allows multiple app stores with Android OS. Independent app stores will compete against each other, using distinct search and user interfaces, greater availability, international appeal and better fiscal deals for developers.

Most app developers will sign up to any distribution channel that can increase the visibility (and sales!) of its apps.

Amazon is not yet revealing much, but (unlike many of the new independents) Amazon brings to the table a huge database of existing customers. It's instant success if Amazon controls this first part of its plan: woo the right developers, and control which apps join to ensure Amazon App Store comes out of the start-up box with an attractive offering.

According to reports, developers will have to pay $100 to sign up, just like the Apple app store requires. And they will want developers of paid apps to give Amazon customers the best deal possible. Like Wal-Mart squeezing hardware vendors, Amazon won't let their customers pay suppliers any sort of premium. It's a volume marketplace and the King of Volume wants low prices (or at least the same price as anywhere else, never higher.)

Amazon could bring value-added features already known to Amazon customers:  recommendations, wish lists and deals.

You can bet your Kindle that Amazon will need deals with device makers to get its app store into smartphones, tablets and connected TVs.

This could also create a whole new era for smartphones: an era of bloatware like PCs that come bundled with multiple software trials as many emerging app stores "bribe" hardware vendors with promises, visibility, and...yes, even cash.

No one has yet mentioned Amazon Web Services who already offer a cluster computing service to provide high-performance applications for enterprises that don’t want to build their own. So Amazon's own infrastructure folks already know how to deliver apps via cloud. Not a mass market service but Amazon has B2B apps on one side-- and a mass market business selling books, software and more on the other. 

In between the two, Amazon should manage very well in the App Store business.

Go Amazon to Open App Store