Survey Show Developers Favor Android in the Long-Term
While it isn’t the first time we have heard the sentiment, a recent survey by Appcelerator and IDC shows that developers have more faith in Android as a long-term platform than Apple’s iOS. 59 percent of developers favor Android for future investment as opposed to the 35 percent who favor the long-term outlook of iOS. That equals a gap widened by 10 percent since Appcelerator last posed the question to developers back in June.
The reasoning behind the shift can be explained by another statistic gathered in the study. A full 72 percent of developers agree that “Android is best positioned to power a large number and variety of connected devices in the future.” Apple and iOS had the agreement of only 25 percent of developers. This means devices like Android tablets and Google TV could be a huge factor in the long-term success of Android as a development platform.
iOS does continue to lead in areas tied to the current smartphone market. 91 percent of developers are “very interested” in developing for that platform while 82 percent said the same for Android. Part of this can be tied into the fragmented state of the OS, which developers gave higher scores to Apple for their unified hardware experience.
While the smartphone battle continues to see large growth on Google’s part, the future lies in the other avenues that can deliver Android as an entertainment experience. Developers seem more than eager to help in those areas, too.