This article was published on June 26, 2013

IDC: Mobile app developers are now as interested in tablets as smartphones, 51% expect to build for enterprise


IDC: Mobile app developers are now as interested in tablets as smartphones, 51% expect to build for enterprise

Over the next six months, nearly an equivalent percentage of mobile app developers expect to build for tablets as for smartphones: 81.34 percent vs. 84 percent, respectively. Since 2010, the number of developers focusing on enterprise apps has jumped from 38 percent to 51 percent, and the figure is further expected to rise as high as 63 percent by the end of the year.

These latest numbers come from a study conducted in April 2013, in which Appcelerator and IDC surveyed 6,046 Appcelerator Titanium developers. The duo claims this is the world’s largest survey of mobile app developers to date.

The two firms now have three years of survey data to work with, letting them discover some interesting trends supporting the mobile revolution. The fact tablet development has now caught up to smartphone development is noteworthy, as is the increasing focus on the enterprise, but one trend that hasn’t changed is developers’ interest in building for multiple operating systems.

idc_appcelerator_charts

This stance apparently remains consistent in the Q2 2013 survey, with each developer writing for an average of 2.5 operating systems. Furthermore, that number is expected to grow, reinforcing the notion that a single app on a single operating system simply isn’t the way to go.

Yet the question of who will take third place remains, even among developers. The latest survey results show developer interest in both iOS and Android remained nearly flat, suggesting that the opportunity for a bronze medal is still very much a reality.

Will BlackBerry manage to make a comeback or will Microsoft’s Windows Phone manage to beat it to the punch? There is also the possibility of an Android derivative like Amazon’s Kindle taking over, or even a new entrant such as Firefox OS.

See also – Canalys: Over 300m smart devices shipped in Q1 2013, 59.5% powered by Android, 19.3% iOS and OS X, 18.1% Windows

Top Image Credit: Toshifumi Kitamura/Getty

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