Developers
Primarily Supporting Smartphones Drops More Than 30 Percent
Boston, MA – June 5, 2012 – The lost enthusiasm for developing
smartphone apps is being replaced by a new passion for tablets. Developers primarily supporting tablets grew
65 percent from last year to next year.
According to the Strategy Analytics
report, "App Developer Survey: Developer Attitudes - 1H2012," it is clear that app developers are feeling the
smartphone market offers less of a perceived upside than tablets. Tablets currently
have less competition due to fewer optimized apps, a broader range of
monetization options and a more captive app audience.
When Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10 are
released, both Microsoft and Research in Motion will seek to take advantage of
the battleground moving from phones to tablets which will allow developers to
easily build apps for both products. If implemented correctly, this approach
will increase platform importance—especially among platform skeptics.
|
|
Platform importance next 12 months (1-10)
|
Importance by those responding 5 or less
|
Importance by those responding 5 or less if new OSes
launch
|
Increase in importance
|
|
BlackBerry
|
3.8
|
1.6
|
4.02
|
322 percent
|
|
Windows
|
5.3
|
1.3
|
4.36
|
276 percent
|
Source: Strategy Analytics,
Inc.
According to
Josh Martin, Director of Apps Research at Strategy Analytics, “The next app
battleground will take place on the tablet. Since the phone apps ecosystem has
matured, it is becoming increasingly difficult for smaller, niche developers to
compete. Tablets present the future. Tablets also present an opportunity for
rebirth of Windows and BlackBerry as they seek to build out their developer
ecosystems in order to complement the robust offerings of Apple and Android.”