iPhone and Android Top App Stores, But Issues Persist for Devs, Says VisionMobile

According to the Developer Economics report from VisionMobile, app stores have streamlined the route to market for mobile applications, however,there is sporadic use of app stores outside the Apple and Android platforms

The report explores mobile app development issues from surveyed mobile app developers including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Java.  On the good side their findings show that app stores have reduced the average time-to-shelf by two thirds: from 68 days across

Top Obstacles and Issues to App Developers:

1. Exposure
The number one issue for mobile developers to be the lack of effective marketing channels to increase application exposure, discovery and therefore customer acquisition. This was an issue mostly for Flash and iPhone developers, followed by Symbian, Android and Java ME developers. Developers reported persistent challenges with getting traffic, customer visibility or in short "being seen". One developer put it succinctly: "It's like going to a record store with 200,000 CDs. You'll only look at the top-10."

2. Submission and Certs
Application submission and certification are two of the top four challenges for mobile developers, according to our survey. Overall, the most important issue related to certification that was raised by nearly 40 percent of respondents is its cost

3. Low Revs for Devs
The economics for long-tail developers is dubious. At least 25 percent of Symbian, Flash, Windows Phone and Java ME respondents reported low revenue share as one of the key go-to-market challenges. Most app stores are still playing catch-up to Apple in terms of the revenue share they are paying out to the developer. As one developer put it. The revenue share was not a major challenge for iPhone or BlackBerry respondents.

Less than 25 percent of respondents stated that revenue potential was one of the best factors of their platform; on average revenue potential ranked last among "best aspects" of each platform, showing how mobile software development is still plagued by poor monetisation in 2010. Only five percent of the respondents reported very good revenues, above their expectations, while 24 percent said their revenues were poor.

Another issue highlighted was the lack of localizedd apps. The lack of localizeed apps on Android presents the number one opportunity for alternative app stores.

Challenge 5: Application planning and testing
Application planning and testing is a core part of taking an application to market. Research confirms that planning techniques are near-ubiquitous for application developers. Yet, small development firms have limited means today to beta test and peer review their applications with a cross- section of representative users. Full report is available for free download,