Developer Choose Android and iPhone iOS, Tablets & Windows Phone 7, Says IDC & Appcelerator

The Appcelerator-IDC Q1 2011 Mobile Developer Report and survey shows
that Google's Android OS has almost caught up to Apple in smartphone development popularity and is
closing the gap in tablets.

The average developer is now building for four
different platforms.  Android and Windows Phone 7 are gaining.  Tablet development is also very popular, while interest in Google TV and Apple TV dropped off.

• Android
  phone interest (87% 'very interested') rose 5 points to tie iPad and close to
  within 5 points of iPhone (92%).  Click on the chart to see choices.
• Windows
  Phone 7 rose 8 points to 36% with developers indicating they are 'very
  interested' due to a better-than-expected launch.  Respondents said that Windows
  Phone's UI improvement was a critical factor for the increase.
• Amazon's
  newly announced Android Appstore shows early promise.  While 82% of developers
  are interested in distributing their apps through the Android Market, 37% are
  interested in the Amazon Appstore, 13% for Verizon VCAST, and 9% for
  GetJar.
• Interestingly,
  developers are about equally as interested in the Mac App Store (39%) as they
  are in Amazon's new Android app store.
• Tablet
  interest spikes across the board: Android Tablet interest jumped 12 points in
  three months to 74% of respondents saying that they are 'very interested' in
  developing for these devices.  Interest in BlackBerry Playbook nearly doubled
  from 16% to 28%.  iPad rose three points to 87%, while webOS Tablet interest
  remained flat at 16%.
• For
  Apple, topping the iPad 2 wish list were: new camera capabilities, a USB
  connector, and an improved retina display.

The
proliferation of apps, devices, platforms, and capabilities has triggered a
race among businesses large and small to define a sustainable mobile strategy. 
This quarter, Appcelerator and IDC introduce a new "Mobile Maturity
Model" to identify three phases of mobility adoption shaping up in the
enterprise and consumer markets: 'exploration,' 'acceleration,' and
'innovation.'

Last
year, most respondents (43%) said they were in the 'exploring' phase of their
mobile strategy.  A simple app or two - typically on iPhone - and a focus on
free or $0.99 branded apps was standard practice.  This year, 55% of respondents
said they are now shifting into the 'acceleration' phase.  This phase is defined
by the following trends and mobile strategies:

• On
  average, each respondent said they plan to develop 6.5 apps this year, up 183%
  over last year.
• Businesses
  are increasingly taking a multi-platform approach.  On average, respondents said
  they plan to deploy apps on at least four different devices (e.g., iPhone, iPad,
  Android Phone, Android Tablet) this year, up two-fold over 2010.
• Ubiquitous
  cloud-connectivity: 87% of developers said their apps will connect to the cloud
  this year, up from 64% last year.
• Always
  connected, personal, and contextual: in addition to cloud services, integration
  of social and location services will explode in 2011 and will define the
  majority of mobile experiences this year.
• Interest
  in commerce apps is also on the rise, with PayPal beating Apple and Google as the
  more preferred method for payments.
• Business
  models are evolving to stay in lockstep with these more engaging mobile app
  experiences.  Developers are shifting away from free brand affinity apps and
  becoming less reliant on $0.99 app sales.  Increasingly, the focus is on user
  engagement models such as in-app purchasing and advertising, with mobile
  commerce on the horizon.
• Outsource
  goes in-house: the enterprise takes control of its mobile destiny.  81% of
  respondents said they insource their development, with the majority saying they
  have an integrated in-house Web and mobile team.