Strategy Analytics Developer Survey shows 32 percent of developers expect to code for Windows Phone in 2014

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A Strategy Analytics Developer Survey, performed in September 2013, polled over 1,600 active mobile app developers and found over 32 percent indicated they would support Windows Phone next year, double the 16 percent which created apps for the Microsoft platform in 2013.

David MacQueen, Executive Director, Apps and Media Research, said “Naturally Android and iOS were the top platforms, with 84 percent and 68 percent respectively of developers targeting those platforms. That’s primarily down to the huge installed base; we asked developers why they were supporting particular platforms and the top answer for both of these platforms was the user base. 74 percent of Android developers and 65 percent of iOS developers cited this as a reason for their continued support.

“Of the other platforms, HTML5 ranked third in terms of developer support with 33 percent developing for HTML5 this year, rising to 43 percent expecting to develop next year. However, one third of those developers use HTML5 as a tool to develop for other platforms. Therefore, it seems that Windows Phone looks set to become the third ecosystem, as predicted by Elop in the infamous ‘burning platform’ memo. In contrast, support for Symbian next year is slightly under 2 percent of our developer panel.”

The last 3 months has been marked by the arrival of a significant number of high profile apps in the Windows Phone Store, including Vine, Instagram, Waze and others and we are increasingly seeing Windows Phone being included in the mobile app conversation from the start, rather than years later as has been the case before.

The Windows Phone Store currently has 190,000 apps, and Microsoft has reduced developer fees to only $19 per year, while allowing Windows and Windows Phone developers to publish apps in either store for the same fee.

It is expected further momentum in the platform will also see increased developer interest, with Joe Belfiore saying he expects the “app gap” to be a thing of the past in 2014.

More about the topics: developers, windows phone

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