Developers have a decreased interest in creating applications for the Apple iPad, according to a survey conducted this week. The iPad, which is slated to be available on Saturday, will have to stand out to continue to attract interest from developers.
In January, developers were excited to begin writing applications for the then-rumored iPad. A poll of 1,028 developers showed 90 percent were planning to create apps for the iPad, according to Appcelerator, an application development services company.
Now that interest has declined, a new Appcelerator survey shows. Only 80 percent of developers are “interested” in writing apps for the iPad and 53 percent are “very interested,” the new survey found.
“Developers are settling into a more pragmatic approach to the iPad,” said Scott Schwarzhoff, vice president of marketing for Appcelerator. “It is off a bit from January, and it looks like businesses are starting to put the platform into context against their other development objectives for 2010. This may actually benefit Apple the most in the long run as businesses look to see where the iPad fits due to business need rather than just pure hype and speculation.”
The latest survey, conducted between March 23 and 25, also found a more competitive landscape. Developers are no longer committing to just the iPhone, iPad and Android, and competition is heating up.
Mobile platforms are seeing a tight race. The iPhone and Google’s Android are at the top against one another. In January, 86 percent of those surveyed were interested in writing apps for the iPhone, and 68 percent for Android. The results from last week’s survey, however, show a smaller gap with 87 percent interested in the iPhone and 81 percent in Android.
“The mandate for a strategic and cost-effective cross-platform approach to mobile and tablet development has never been clearer,” Schwarzhoff…