Appcelerator and IDC polled developers to get their opinions on development platforms, problems and device preferences. After the release of the Verizon iPhone, iOS development interest increased. Other increasing interest from developers is for the "mobile cloud." The biggest problem Android developers have is fragmentation.
91% of developers are 'very interested' in iPhone development, and 86% are very interested in developing for the iPad. Interest in Android smartphone development fell two points to 85%, and Android tablets fell three points to 71% after increasing twelve points in Q1. Windows Phone 7 (29%) moved ahead of BlackBerry (20%) and is now the third top choice for developers. Appcelerator suggests that the recent Nokia and Microsoft partnership announcement sparked interest.
"Fragmentation equals more time and more pain to developers," said Scott Schwarzhoff, VP of Marketing, Appcelerator, who offered multiple solutions, such as mobile web development, cross-platform development tools and cloud data storage
When it comes to fragmentation, Android's issues are not the number-one concern among developers. Multiple mobile OSes, skillsets, mobile devices, form factors (e.g. tablet and phone), multi-app portfolios, and Android permutations have caused fragmentation issues six layers deep for developers.
84% of respondents said that they are using at least one cloud-enabled or cloud-based service in their applications today. Multiple clouds define the mobile cloud: developers and businesses, on average, plan to use 13 of the 44 services with mobile-cloud components polled in their applications now and over the coming 12 to 18 months.
These mobile cloud-enabled services are increasingly being accessed through both mobile applications and mobile websites: over 80% of mobile app developers said they either are building or plan to build mobile websites this year.
As far as tablets go, there is 71% interest in Android tablet development, 52% interest in the Samsung Galaxy Tab, 44% interest in the Motorola Xoom, and 31% Interest in HTC Flyer followed by the Nook Color (13%).