Mobile is the future. Despite App Store integration in OS X Lion and Apple’s increased excitement about the Mac, the number of iOS developers also working on Mac applications has dwindled to single digits.
Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster Monday told investors a survey of 45 iOS developers attending WWDC found while all write for the iOS platform, just 7 percent develop for the Mac.
This is a sharp reversal from the 2008 WWDC, when Munster found 50 percent of developers attending the conference produced Mac apps. (Of course, in 2008, there was no iPad nor App Store and iOS was still in beta.)
The survey also found 47 percent of developers produce apps for Android (up from 0 percent in 2008), with 36 percent for RIM’s BlackBerry and 13 percent for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. No developer surveyed believes BlackBerry, WebOS or Nokia’s Symbian have a future.
Despite complaints about Apple’s “strict limitations” and the App Store’s fickle approval process, every developer questioned by the analyst said they prefer iOS for quick development and clear monetization.
We can understand their perspective… but we wonder if this won’t change when Lion drops. What do you think? Can Lion lure developers back to the Mac, or does iOS give developers the sort of platform purity that they never knew they needed until Apple gave it to them? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
