Information Week Reporting Developers aren’t interested in Pre, Symbian
From Information Week:
Developers are more interested in porting applications to Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry, according to a survey by Skyhook Wireless.
Developers looking at making location-based applications aren't very interested in Palm's Pre or Symbian, according to a survey from Skyhook Wireless.
Skyhook developed a hybrid location system that determines where a user is located by using Wi-Fi, GPS, and cell phone towers. The technology has been integrated into multiple mobile platforms, including Android and Symbian.
The company surveyed developers and found that nearly half think integrating location will set their apps apart or add value. These developers want their apps to be able to have exact location data, and 73% said very fast location results are important to the apps' performance. As more and more handsets utilize GPS, Wi-Fi, cell towers, and Bluetooth to determine location, the market for location-based services and applications is expected to swell to $13.3 billion by 2013.
The developers surveyed worked with iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, and other development environments, and more than half planned to port their apps to another mobile platform. Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s Android operating system fared well, as 58% of non-Android developers were planning to port to that platform.
Further in the article
The developers didn't show much interest in Symbian or Palm's upcoming webOS, as only 9% and 8%, respectively, planned to port apps to those platforms. The news may not be that bad for Symbian, as it will be capable of running many apps that are written in J2ME. But the lack of interest in webOS might put a dent in Palm's plans, as the company will be relying on mobile apps to help it make a comeback.
While I can understand the survey and the results, I would interpret it as a wait and see attitude from developers, not that “this might put a dent in Palm’s plans. How can you interpret the results that way when most haven’t had the opportunity to even see the device or OS yet?
Full article here.