TECHNOLOGY SPECTATOR: Beyond the Android afterthought

Android may trump Apple iOS as the platform of choice for developers in 2012 but Google still has work to do to ensure Android is top of mind.

Technology Spectator

The allure of Apps is a potent weapon in the arsenal of any smartphone platform and while Apple iOS has had a head start in the space its rivals are maintaining their efforts to narrow the gap and in the case of Google Android, starting to catch up.

As the platform battle rages on, Android is picking up some healthy momentum with Android Market ticking past 11 billion app downloads this month and the latest survey from Ovum saying that Android has replaced Apple's iOS in terms of importance to developers in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to Ovum's second annual developer survey– Developer Insights 2011: Trends in Mobile Application Development – Android is poised to overthrow iOS as the platform of choice for developers within the next 12 months, with 29 per cent of developers aiming to adopt Android compared to the 27 per cent planning to adopt iOS.

App developers are a critical cog in keeping any platform healthy. One of the core strengths of the iOS ecosystem is that it has consistently attracted the best and brightest developers to build apps that draw consumers to the App Store. With a growth rate of 1 billion downloads per month Android has made a lot of progress in 2011 and Ovum's data does raise the question of whether the dominance of iOS in the app space is coming to an end.