iOS Developers Embracing Alternative Mobile Platforms, Shying Away From Mac

[Chupa Chupa]

If "analysts" rely on this type of non-survey no one they are wrong so often.

First thing I see is that the headline here is flat out wrong. The results from '08 vs 10 on developing for iOS are both 100% so how is that viewed as "shying" away? iOS developers are not necessarily Mac developers. I don't see the correlation.

Next, developers are business people. Of course they are going to develop for other platforms if their is a market for their software and it's easy to port or recode. But what does that say about iOS? Nothing really. The survey does not indicate developers are abandoning iOS.

The survey size is ridiculously tiny based on the total number of WWDC attendees.

 

[kalsta]

"PC free" and "Post PC" were two key phrases from this year's WWDC (not to mention that Jobs said they are going to "demote" the computer to be just another device for iCloud).

…

If Steve Jobs makes it clear that PCs -- presumably including Macs -- are on the way out…

Steve has made no such thing clear. Based on everything I've heard him say, I believe he imagines a world where the iPad becomes far more prevalent than PCs. Within the home, I think this makes some sense. The iPad is a great device for the sort of activities people typically use a PC for at home — casual web browsing, social interaction, and certainly games. It's portable, compact, affordable, and most of all fun. So where previously a family might have owned four PCs, that family might, in the future, own three iPads and one PC. Steve described this world by comparing PCs to trucks and tablets to cars — there are a lot more cars on the road, but trucks still have their place.

So, 'Post PC' is a term given to an era where touchscreen devices like the iPad start to dominate. It doesn't imply the death of the PC.

Does Steve really believe in such a world? Probably. But in a way he's also using it (as a marketing term) to try and create that future sooner rather than later — because Apple has the early lead when it comes to tablets, and it's a lead they dearly want to cement as quickly as possible. If they can get people to believe the iPad is the future, then some of those people might just hold off on buying that next PC in favour of an iPad, and I think Steve's confident enough that they'll be sold by the experience of owning one.

I predict (and you can quote me in ten years) that the Mac still has a long and healthy life ahead of it. Just don't expect Apple to pour the same amount of advertising into it as it does for iOS devices.

 

[jpine]

Takeaways from the article:

• If you want to make money, iOS is your platform of choice
  
• iOS has highest potential for future growth (see above for one of the main reasons) even among an ocean of Android devices that are based on an "open" platform, but other platforms are growing as well. There will always be a market for other platforms, even if they're total junk. The race to the bottom is always happening.
  
• iOS growth faster than Mac/OS X. Suggests (more evidence to add to the pile) that we are definitely in the Post-PC era.

Browse ANY of the forums of the different SDKs out there that can create both iOS and Android apps. (The Corona SDK I use is one such example) I have as of yet to find a developer who is making anywhere near the same amount of money with his or her Android app as they are with the same app created for iOS.

 

[toddybody]

For PCs, in their current form, the direction is down. Unless they're taking cues from mobile tech. Mobile tech is the well from which everyone drinks. The mobile sphere is currently the main influence for nearly all consumer tech.

The new W8 tile view JIVES with your comment....that said, its a nightmare. PC's (Macs included) need a desktop, folders, and other old fogie stuff

 

[JoeDMD]

how's that amazing Cube market doing these days?

 

[firewood]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Takeaways from the article:

• If you want to make money, iOS is your platform of choice
  
• iOS has highest potential for future growth (see above for one of the main reasons) even among an ocean of Android devices that are based on an "open" platform, but other platforms are growing as well. There will always be a market for other platforms, even if they're total junk. The race to the bottom is always happening.
  
• iOS growth faster than Mac/OS X. Suggests (more evidence to add to the pile) that we are definitely in the Post-PC era.

Post PC era? lol'd

FFS stop posting this post-pc crap in EVERY SINGLE THREAD. iPad (and tablets in general) are just fancy toys which are meant for basic things. They can't do anything productive. And how the hell do you think a fancy toy can replace a real computer? Unless you're a 10 year kid playing casual games and trolling on forums, I don't see tablets replacing anything.

Most businesses use most of their PCs for really simple things (data entry, presentations, enterprise web apps, etc.) So they are buying tons of what you call "fancy toys" to replace boatloads of their PCs already. PCs are going the way that minicomputers and mainframes went, specialized use and museums.

 

[kiljoy616]

This is a crap survey. Only 20 people in 2007 and 45 people this year? Thats a TINY sample size.. not even big enough to make these statistics significant.

Small or not its not really a crap survey. That said how is this a bad thing. I can see why developer would put more time and money into iOS than say OS X.

The money is in what is hot. Also its much easier to program for iOS but someone with real programming experience can tell us if this is the case. My reference is from 2 friends who are programmers not my own experience.

Do we need that many types of Word Processors to pick from, I don't think so.

All is still well on OSX which in a few more years will probably not even be OS X any more but iOS X and you can quote me in 10 years. I also see the file management system we have today going away or been sent to the back side where only the old die hard care. Just as soon as all the old foggy die off.

 

[seamuskrat]

N=45

Other have said it, but an n=45 is rubbish.

I do not know how many devs attend WWDC, but lets say it is at least 1000. A survey of 45, and it doesnto say how these 45 were selected hardly justifies as the pulse of the group.

Over 10 years, a small random survey may allow for trending statistics. But this is a financial analyst basing stock purchase on wha seems to be a paltry informal survey.

no wonder analysts are wrong so often.

 

[techwhiz]

Statistically Insignificant

The sample size is too small to mean anything.
How many people attended? A lot more than 45 considering it was sold out.

The people that published this survey are ....... you fill in the blank.

"Lies, damn lies, and statistics.". -- Mark Twain

 

[apolloa]

Well, no surprise here then? Mac is bottom of the run for most developers, a lot of developers see mobile platforms as the future, so most of them develop for iOS the most developed platform, and they don't bother with OSX.

Hence the survey results....

Great news for iOS, but I kinda got used to the lack of devs on OSX, still considering how many Macs are getting sold these day's it's a little bit of a surprise.

 

[beangibbs]

Off-topic: even after all these years, Helvetica is still the best damn sans out there. In fact, it reads better than some of the well-designed serifs in use today.

This.
+1

 

[Mr. Gates]

LOL

You are probably right about Windows replacing Android in a few years. But I don't think it will be a strong competitor unless developers can make some money.

I think the Windows phone will be a little harder to pirate Apps on compared to Android

 

[Popeye206]

Android has a potential for growth. But no potential for real profit for developers. That will be the downfall of Android. I wonder what OS will take its place as a competitor for iOS in a few years?

I don't think Android will go away. I think they will wake up and realize that the only way to make it work will be to close in the "open system" walls like Apple has done. And they must do this for two reasons — one is so the developers can make money and the other is get a handle on the viruses and malware.

I know... the "open systems geeks" aren't going to like my statements, but the general public (the non-geeky person) likes things that just work and can be trusted. Apple does a great job at that.

If Google does not work on this, they will have a fragmented mess that is known to have many issues and customers who bought an Android device today will be looking at Apple in the future.

The good news... I'm sure they will and I think we'll continue to see Google and Apple at the top of the heap for a while. There is plenty of room for both... even more.

 

[NightFox]

Image
Image

Did you post this in the wrong thread?

 

[beangibbs]

Post PC era? lol'd

FFS stop posting this post-pc crap in EVERY SINGLE THREAD. iPad (and tablets in general) are just fancy toys which are meant for basic things. They can't do anything productive. And how the hell do you think a fancy toy can replace a real computer? Unless you're a 10 year kid playing casual games and trolling on forums, I don't see tablets replacing anything.

I'm 20, don't have the money to go buy a computer right now, and my iPad saved my butt in the spring semester because I had all my class notes in one location, with slides, pictures, videos and audio recordings of the lectures. I also produce artwork off this thing that is paying my bills. I'd say it's done a damn good job of replacing the POS laptop I had before. Will it completely replace computers? I don't think so, but it will definitely reduce our need to return to our desktops or laptops.

 

[JoeDMD]

Did you post this in the wrong thread?

nope he said the cube market failed.
But small form factor machines are still be being made and sold.

 

[vincenz]

This is a crap survey. Only 20 people in 2007 and 45 people this year? Thats a TINY sample size.. not even big enough to make these statistics significant.

That plus they're running the survey at an apple conference. It's almost like they wanted to see who DIDN'T want to develop for apple.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

How many more iOS devices are there compared to Mac OS computers?

One would need to know that before making a determination on the merits of this survey.

 

[spydr]

Worst. Survey. Ever.

Enough said.

 

[maflynn]

Why are so many people getting their panties in a bind over this.
Developers are producing software to make money - nothing wrong with that. They adopt a platform like iOS or android because they see a potential for profits. why is this so shocking.

 

[rmwebs]

This shouldn't really be a shock to anyone....you'd be blind not to notice Apple's lack of care for Mac developers over the last few years. Even the Mac App Store - it only exists because Apple get a nice profit from sales.

The way its going devs will be all over Android, especially if Google manage to get this fragmentation stuff sorted out next year.

Down vote me all you like, facts are facts.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

This shouldn't really be a shock to anyone....you'd be blind not to notice Apple's lack of care for Mac developers over the last few years. Even the Mac App Store - it only exists because Apple get a nice profit from sales.

The way its going devs will be all over Android, especially if Google manage to get this fragmentation stuff sorted out next year.

Down vote me all you like, facts are facts.

Makes no sense. OS X keeps roaring along with new technologies and APIs and now even its own distribution channel, the Mac App Store. Not sure where you get the idea that Apple doesn't care for Mac developers.

 

[NT1440]

This shouldn't really be a shock to anyone....you'd be blind not to notice Apple's lack of care for Mac developers over the last few years. Even the Mac App Store - it only exists because Apple get a nice profit from sales.

The way its going devs will be all over Android, especially if Google manage to get this fragmentation stuff sorted out next year.

Down vote me all you like, facts are facts.

....

There are over 2000 new APIs in Lion.

 

[rmwebs]

Makes no sense. OS X keeps roaring along with new technologies and APIs and now even its own distribution channel, the Mac App Store. Not sure where you get the idea that Apple doesn't care for Mac developers.

A few of things:

- The Mac Pro...hasn't seen a decent update in YEARS..its mostly used for heavy development.

- Full focus on iOS with very little happening on the actual Mac front. Lion is simply bridging a few UI changes and adding iOS'esq features....nothing of real importance, with the exception of version control.

- XCode 4 was a step backwards. They spent so much time getting iOS stuff integrated that they neglected mac developers who rely on it. It's a very messy development tool now.

 

[Consultant]

The drop from 50% to 7% (even if the survey results were statistically significant) doesn't mean developers are 'shying away from Mac'. It's quite likely that a large percentage of developers attending WWDC now are relatively new to Xcode development, having been drawn in by the lure of the iOS cash cow. That's to be expected given the platform's success, and says nothing about the actual number of people developing for the Mac.



Edit: I just noticed your comment. That's essentially what I was trying to say too.

Perhaps great minds think alike.