A recent survey by Appcelerator last month has shown what we all kinda knew. Developer interest in Windows Phone isn’t as high as it could be. The full survey, which is available for download, involved 1028 developers and shows that 87% are “very interested” in developing for the iPhone with a huge 81% stating the same about Android. As for Windows Phone, only 34% responded as “very interested” but that was a jump from 13% in the previous survey – proof, at least, that Windows Phone 7 has sparked interest, but still way behind Android.
These stats have now been picked out and used in this ComputerWorld article and then re-posted on Reuters. Market share stats also show that Microsoft dropped from a 19.7% share of the market to a 15.7% share whilst Android grew by 250% – from just 2.8% to 7.1%. At this rate of change Android is likely to fly past Microsoft in a matter of months. The article states that..
“Canalys says that sales of Microsoft mobile devices will fall in 2010 compared to 2009, and sales by its competitors will soar. It predicts that for the full year, Microsoft will drop to a mere 7.2% of the market , while Android will roar past it to 18.9%. Canalys has Apple barely beating Android, with 21.3% of the market, and it puts RIM at 43%”
Whilst these figures are worrying, they should be seen in context – there is still developer interest in Windows Phone and according to these stats, it’s growing. Microsoft needs to harness this interest and get a good catalogue of apps setup for the Windows Phone 7 launch in December.
Link – Mobile Developer Survey – Computerworld.com