Windows Mobile is officially the last platform that developers want to write for, according to a US report, with more than 50% of code-cutters now building apps for Apple’s iOS.
The opportunity cost of Microsoft’s mobile mis-step continues to grow, with a US consultancy reporting that Windows Mobile has slumped into last place on the list of platforms for which developers are writing apps.
A survey conducted by
iGR reveals that 53 percent of mobile developers polled are writing apps for Apple’s iOS (the new device-agnostic brand for the iPhone OS).
The BlackBerry slots into second place, followed by Android, with Windows Mobile 6.5 last on the hit list.
The result is more staggering considering that iGR’s 2009 survey found Windows Mobile 6.5 was the most popular platform for smartphone code-cutters.
In the space of one tumultuous year – a year in which Android took off, RIM worked hard to stay in the game and Microsoft revealed that its long-awaited Windows Phone 7 platform would require all-new software when it arrived by Christmas 2010 – developers have moved en masse to Apple’s platform, which now offers the iPad as an additional medium for apps (and it’s unlikely to be the last).
iGR also notes that half of developers who are currently not working on iOS apps plan to do so in the next 12 months.
That shift won’t be at the expense of other mobile operating systems, however – the growth in the overall mobile app space means that developers are now having to code for multiple platforms.
iGR says that most developers now write apps for at least two platforms, and this is expected to increase to at least three platforms by mid-2011. But there’s more bad news for Microsoft, as Android and the BlackBerry OS cited as the next most popular platforms on the to-do list.
There’s no doubt that Windows Phone 7 will step back into the frame as soon as the first wave of devices hit the market, but it will leave Microsoft with a lot of lost ground to make up.