More developers targeting Android tablets for new apps than iPad

[BalanceOfPower]

More developers targeting Android tablets for new apps than iPad

by David Needle January 13 2014

A just-released developer survey finds it takes less time to develop apps for Android than iOS and that more developers are targeting Android for tablet apps than Apple’s iPad.

The report from Evans Data is based on an in-depth worldwide survey of 464 developers actively developing apps for mobile devices.

The results showed that 41% of developers targeting Android said their typical app is finished in one month or less compared to 36% for iOS and 34% for Windows Phone.

On all platforms the largest part of the time is spent on testing and debugging except for Firefox and Tizen, where coding takes more time. Also, Android developers spend the most time on testing and debugging, but spend proportionately more time than developers for other platforms on performance and UI optimization.

As for tablets specifically, the survey found that 84% of those targeting tablets are working on Android versus 62% targeting iOS and 52% targeting Windows.

However, the survey also confirms that most developers develop for multiple platforms and screen sizes.

“Targeting multiple screen sizes is definitely the way to go,” said Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data. “The benefit of having your app run across the gamut of device types is obvious, and while there are difficulties in synchronization across device types, and in the range of graphics capabilities that are supported by different screens, the benefits still outweigh the effort.”