The named analysis and statistics company Flurry published a very interesting report that shows how the preferences of application developers have changed. Apparently, the iOS platform is preferred by developers and gathers 57% of the total projects, 3% more than in the first quarter of 2011. The Android OS platform lost 8% of its developers, a third in favor of iOS and the rest in favor of other platforms for mobile terminals. Apparently the iPad 2 and iPhone 4 CDMA tablet for Verizon would have aroused the interest of application developers because the growth recorded by Apple was recorded after the launch of these products.
Studying the chart, it's readily apparent that Android has lost developer support to iOS. Specifically, Android new project starts have dropped from 36% in Q1 to 28% in Q2. Overall, total Flurry iOS and Android new project starts grew from 9,100 in Q1 to 10,200 in Q2. Of note, this drop in Android developer support represents the second quarter-over-over slide, which follows a year of significant, steady growth for the Google-built OS. Over the course of 2010, Android developer support had climbed steadily each quarter, peaking at 39% in Q4 2010.
The study by Flurry is interesting, but of course it does not cover the entire community of application developers. Android grows rapidly and the Android Market follows it, and in August the application store of those from Google should surpass the App Store in terms of the number of available applications.
