Developers Favor Android Over iPhone For New Projects

By Benedict Wee

Mobile application analytics company; Flurry has released the latest statistics on new projects starts and have found that developers are more inclined to make mobile applications for the Android Market rather than Apple's App Store for the iPhone.

Although Apple has experienced an exponential growth of applications appearing in their store (from 25,000 in the beginning of the year to over 65,000 in July), there has been a significant drop in new projects by developers. This is most likely due to them shying away from Apple's archaic app approval policy which does not provide descriptive and helpful information should an application be rejected or pulled from the store. This problem was escalated to the public eye recently with the Google Voice fiasco that enraged developers and iPhone users alike, causing the US government to step in.

The reason for more developers choosing Android to start their new projects is due primarily to their Open Source policy with allows them to create applications without the scrutiny and policing of a gatekeeper. Applications are therefore "let loose" into the in the Android Market, relying on users and a five-star rating to determine if they're useful, malicious or garbage. This environment benefits both sides as the developers get feedback on their apps (be it positive or negative) and find ways to improve them while users get to decide which apps they want to use without a virtual parent deciding on their behalf.

Another good reason for developers to start projects on Android is unlike the iPhone, the operating system appears on more than one mobile currently in the market and the number is set to increase within the year's end with non-phone gadgets running the OS as well.

Of course the iPhone still reigns supreme in both smartphone wars and application development, but the gap between them and the Android is slowly getting smaller and with the recent troubles Apple has been facing they'll never know when the tide will turn against them.

Source:

Flurry - Smartphone Industry Pulse July 2009