UPDATED 14:59 EDT / DECEMBER 31 2013

NEWS

Windows Phone is attracting more and more developers

Native development for mobile platforms requires proficiency in several programming languages. For each mobile OS, the developer is encouraged to create a specific application, which generates additional costs and does not facilitate the maintenance of these applications.  HTML5 has initially emerged as a solution to this problem, resulting in its rapid adoption for mobile developers.

Appcelerator and IDC latest Q4 mobile trends report results show some surprises among developer priorities and concerns, as well as patterns for organizations looking to seize mobile leadership.

Conducted November 14-30 on 6,698 mobile developers, the survey debates current trends in mobile database as well as their development properties.

JavaScript gain is HTML5 failure

According to Appcelerator and IDC study published in July 2012, 72.7% of developers had expressed interest in HTML5. However, is HTML5 mature enough to meet the needs of mobile developers? It seems that this is not the case, since some developers already divert language. The same study conducted this year by Appcelerator shows that the number of developers who said they were interested in the HTML5 development has dropped to 59.9%. The main reason for this departure from developers would be “poor performance” of HTML5 applications because they cannot properly exploit the resources of the terminals, as is the case for native applications.

“This decline can be attributed to pragmatic developers,” said Appcelerator. “Most of them agree that HTML5 can respond to certain types of application, but cannot consistently meet all the challenges of cross-platform development.” In many configurations, HTML5 does not reach the performance of a native application. It does not always offer the same access to hardware capabilities of mobile devices opportunities.

The study also looks back on the decision to Facebook, which occurred in late 2012, to abandon HTML5 to rewrite its iOS app in native format. The company’s investment in creating readily available, mobile-optimized APIs to developers – via Open Graph or mobile BaaS scored well collectively.

Drop in HTML5 popularity is gain in the tired and tested JavaScript language. Appcelerator and IDC concluded in the study that JavaScript is the future of mobile. Indeed, 47.2% of surveyed developers believe JavaScript is more relevant to mobile development, against 22.8% and 19.7% for Java and Objective-C respectively.

“Its ability to render rich results from lightweight, simple-to-learn languages has made it a natural fit for mobile’s speed of development,” the report said. “The market will naturally always look for a lingua franca to strike that balance between efficiency of development, and time to market, and performance.”

JavaScript will continue to dominate both the client and server-sides of development with 55.1% strongly believe the case, while 33.2% say it is likely and 11.7% say it is not likely.

Combined with the cloud, the role of JavaScript becomes increasingly central. Cloud boosts the adoption of scripting language such as infrastructure backend application via Node.js library. Recognizing these advantages, 88% of surveyed developers said that the scripting language would likely or very likely increase its domination in 2014 for both server side and client side.

Still, the debate is not closed. The arrival of 4G could indeed change the game, allowing HTML5 pages to load faster in particular. Initiatives actors Web standardize API access hardware layer devices also could change the situation in favor of HTML5. On this ground, Mozilla notably launched a project called Open Web Devices platform (OWD). As part of the launch of Firefox OS, it has indeed submitted a hardware API specification to the W3C – covering accelerometer, geo-location, phone etc.

Windows phone is the future?

Some good news for Microsoft. Surprisingly, IDC and Appcelerator said developers are more interested in Windows Phone as Windows phone users are growing and promises an interesting turnover. While between August 2012 and the third quarter of 2013, developer interest Windows tablets has declined every quarter, developer interest in Windows Phone has increased every quarter.

In the fourth quarter of 2013 the interest of developers for Windows Phone has reached a record high of 37%, while Windows itself dipped below the 35% mark. The same survey in the same period of 2012 had detected a figure of 22 percent.

The interest in the iPhone, iPad and HTML5, and new entrance of newer players in the market is bringing developers to diversify the work – dividing between iOS, Android, and the new third place, which is precisely Windows Phone. The Windows user base is increasing and according to the latest official figures there are now 200,000 apps available in Windows app store, which together are generating a traffic of 12 million transactions per day.

Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are taking the top two spots, and it’s really up to developers to decide if the Windows Phone platform is worth developing for, and the good news is that it looks like more developers are hopping on board come 2014. Windows Phone developers also seem to show a good appreciation for the paid app, as opposed to those who prefer Android free solution.

As per a recent Strategy Analytics Developer Survey, Windows Phone saw 32% of developers saying they would develop apps for the platform. If more developers do so, it could make Windows Phones more attractive for consumers.


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