The Inquirer

Android will become the OS of choice for developers

Role reversal

  • Chris Martin
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INDUSTRY ANALYST FIRM Ovum predicts that Google's Android will overtake Apple's IOS in importance to developers.

In a turning of the tables, Android will become the operating system (OS) of choice for developers rather than IOS within 12 months, says Ovum. Its second annual developer survey points out that most developers support both operating systems, though.

Somewhat in line with IHS' recent figures predicting that Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS will overtake IOS in market share within three years, the Ovum study indicates growing interest in the colourfully tiled Microsoft OS, as well as the Blackberry OS.

Adam Leach, author of the research at Ovum said, "The growing momentum behind Windows Phone indicates that Microsoft has managed to convince developers that its platform is worthy of investment; its challenge now is to persuade consumers."

He noted that the changes "mirror closely" what is happening in the smartphone market as a whole, dropping essentially obsolete operating systems such as Symbian and WebOS.

The study also revealed that developers are moving away from traditional cross-platform methods such as Java and Flash. They are apparently jumping over to web-based HTML5 but still using straight forward ways of distribution like the Android Market.

Leach said, "A smartphone platform's success is dictated not only by the pull of consumers and the push of handset vendors and mobile operators but also by a healthy economy of applications delivered by third-party developers. Therefore, it is important for all players in the smartphone ecosystem to understand the choices developers are making today and the downstream impact of those choices." µ

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