Piper Jaffray finds developers prefer Apple over Android in recent flawed survey

by Robert Nazarian on Jun 18th 2012, 11:11am
tagged apple, Google

In the ongoing battle of Android vs Apple, it’s clear who the winner is in terms of market share. Nothing is slowing Android down, but analysts are always trying to find something that points towards Android in a negative way. The latest comes from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster who surveyed 100 developers about their thoughts on the different mobile platforms and Apple won hands down.

Out of 100 Apple developers, 55 of them built apps for Android as well. Of those 55 developers building for Android, 84% of them said iOS was best for ease of development. Only 5% of the them preferred Android with 2% favoring Windows, and 9% unsure. As to potential revenue, 64% of those also building for Android said iOS was the preferred OS and again only 5% preferred Android. The rest were unsure or were “uncomfortable” answering the question.

What is most concerning about this survey is that it was taken at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference last week. Are you kidding me? I would imagine that most developers at WWDC prefer Apple and that’s why they attended. I wonder if Munster will conduct the same survey at next week’s Google I/O? Most likely not, but would love to hear the results if anyone does.

source: forbes

» See more articles by Robert Nazarian

Categorized as Android Applications, Android News, Google News

SWasif

What is concerning is that @ Apple’s WWDC, 5% of the developers still preferred Android and 2% preferred WP! Since this person decided to conduct a biased survey, she probably should have cooked up the numbers and say 100% preferred iOS.
- dretzle
  
  Some very small percentages pointing the other way actually helps make it look more realistic. But yeah, (1) survey taken among a sampling of Apple Developers (2) survey taken at Apple’s WWDC. And let’s not forget that these developers also had to pay at least $99 for the privilege of developing on the Apple iOS, so they have a lot more incentive to say they prefer Apple.
  
  The survey itself is slightly skewed, as well, as we’re asking about (a) ease of development and (b) expected potential revenue. No question about the power/potential of the platform (Android’s intent system; background processing; usability of apps, such as with recent apps key and ability to do things like Overskreen’s “windows”) and again, expected potential revenue asked of developers who specifically chose the Apple platform as a preference already. (that is, expectations can be wrong, larger Android user base, etc.)Now lets try taking a random sampling of Android developers and see how many of them also develop for Apple, like the iOS better…
Howard

This is funny. How about a survey for people like me? About 2 years ago I decided to switch from Windows Phone to either Apple IOS or Android. To switch to Apple would have cost me over $8,000 in software and hardware. Switching to Android cost me about $100 in with only $25 going to Google. I also noticed that Apple had a ton of restrictions on what I could develop. Also, there are a tone of Java libraries that can be used with Android. Also, with Google, you can do just about anything you want that’s not illegal. I thought ‘no contest’ and started programming for Android. Since that decision, Android devices and the Android operating system has improved to the point that I, as a developer, can write apps that are as good or better than anything I can do on an iPhone. And I haven’t even started to write for ICS. I’m waiting for ICS to have a larger market share…
- Howard
  
  Geez. I’ve got to read what I type before I hit the button. Sorry about the ‘in with’ and ‘tone’. Should read ‘with’ and ‘ton’.
- http://MyShocker.com Nudo
  
  You are so right! When we publish iOS apps they take over a week to show up… on Android its almost instant compared to iOS.
Lawrence D’Oliveiro

Sure, there is some bias at WWDC. But it’s well-known that the Apple platform still has more developers working on it than Android, and more apps available for it than Android.

Why should we be worried? Clearly the users still prefer Android, once all factors—not just apps, but the capabilities of the devices, the range of choice available, etc—are taken into account. Clearly apps are not the most crucial thing, no matter what Apple and Microsoft—and their fanbois—may think.
- SebaKL
  
  And the best evidence to what you say, is the latest statistics, showing that in last quarter on 2011 and first of 2012 Android out sold apple by 8 million units. That’s 8 million people who prefer high customization and functionality over applications.