Last week, several news stories came out that revealed the preferences that mobile app developers feel when it comes to two of the biggest operating systems for mobile devices: iOS and Google’s Android. While popularity and competition between the two giants are widely known and discussed as far as consumer preferences are concerned, developers got the chance to speak their minds.
With the release of findings from the Appcelerator and IDC 2Q 2012 Mobile Developer Survey last week, it was shown that the iOS had a 16% preference lead over Android out a pool of 3,600 mobile app developers. This survey showed that that iOS will have a long term success in the enterprise of the mobile app marketplace. More than half of the respondents (53.2%) said that iOS will withstand the marketplace while 37.3% of sampled developers went with Android.
According to Michael King, director of enterprise for Appcelerator, the developers who went with iOS believed that that the system is “best positioned to lead in the enterprise.”
So just why is it that iOS always seems to take the care with everything in the development world? There are of course many factors that can be considered, and with developer to developer having their own preferences and needs, settling on a few uniform reasons can be difficult, but not impossible.
It looks like the big decider for the iOS win stems not so much what iOS is good at, but what Android isn’t. For one, many developers agreed that there are too many fragmentation issues currently going on with Android. While the open source system allows for it to be used on a wide array of devices, as an infographic from Mashable showed , it will clearly lead to speed issues.
While open source software has its advantages, it can be easy to see how the widespread involvement of various gadgets cause problems. Developers struggle to adapt to new devices, and there is such a demand for services in apps that range from entertainment platforms like DX3, to E-readers and locators.
With iOS, though it is only applicable to Apple products, the development is easier to manage.
Another big problem that Android has been forced to deal with is the high level of malware, which can be a huge turnoff for development and managers. IOS seems to have eluded a major malware problem, with a small number of reports pertaining to malware intrusion ever going on.
Apart from direct issues facing Android, there have also been reports – according to InfoWorld – that show several IT management evaluations going on that question Android’s application beyond M2M measures such as email and other infrastructure mechanisms.
With these findings that came out of Appcelerator’s survey – the biggest developer survey they have ever done – it could be a sign to the people at Android that some lessons should be learned. With the oncoming battle of new tablets and phones expected to be released for the holiday season, including the Apple iPad Mini, Android-based tablets such as the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire 2 may be at a standstill for developers with this newly revealed perspective.
Author Bio – Michael is a tech blogger who makes contributions to various tech and industry outlets on gadget reviews, news and opinion.