2. Developer Economics 2013
- The fourth Developer Economics report
This is the 4th in our acclaimed research series setting the standard on developer research
- Based on an online survey of 3,400+ developers
Our sample consisted of over 3,400 respondents to an online survey, plus 20 one-on-one interviews
- research period Q4 2012. The sample was global (Europe 39%, Asia 27%, N. America 24%)
- Analysing app economics and key developer tools
This report uncovers the key tools for each of these sectors: Ad-networks, Back-end as a service,
Cross-platfrom tools, Cross-promotion networks, User Analytics, and Voice services
- Also announcing the launch of our Developer Portal
Facts & insights on the mobile app economy, helping developers build a successful app business –
build.developereconomics.com
- Full report available for free download (launched Jan 23 2013)
the report will be freely available for download at www.DeveloperEconomics.com
- Sponsored by
AT&T, Mozilla, Nokia, BrightCove AppCloud, BlackBerry and Telefonica
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4. 11
Developers swarm around iOS/Android
but keep looking for viable alternatives
Android continues to lead mobile developer mindshare, with 72% of
developers now developing for the platform, a 4 percentage point increase
compared to our 2012 survey. iOS shows a 5 percentage point drop in
Mindshare, i.e. the index for measuring how many developers use each
platform. The considerable share of mobile developers intending to adopt
Windows Phone (47%) and BB10 (15%) indicate that there is still developer
interest in a viable third app ecosystem
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6. 10
HTML5 needs better native APIs,
and development environment
HTML5 is becoming a viable alternative to native for developers working
on app categories such as Business & Productivity (used by 42% of HTML
developers), Enterprise (32%) and Media apps (28%). To compete with
native, HTML5 needs better native API access (35% of HTML developers),
a better development environment (34%), better debugging support (22%).
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8. 9
iOS, Android
and BlackBerry are lead platforms
iOS emerged as the highest priority platform, with 48% of iOS developers
using it as the lead platform among all others. iOS, Android and BlackBerry
constitute lead platforms, which are most often used as a main platform
among their developers. Windows Phone and HTML are extension
platforms, as they are typically used by developers to extend their app
footprint into customer segments or regions not adequately covered by
their lead platform.
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10. 8
Tablets reaching dev mindshare parity
with smartphones, TVs are niche
The majority (86%) of 3,460 developers in our survey target smartphones,
while a large share of them also develop on tablets, led by iOS
developers (76%) indicating the attractiveness of the iPad as a
development and monetisation platform. TV development remains
niche (6% of Android developers), as the hype cycle around the
“Smart TV” experience is yet at a very early stage
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12. 7 of developers use 2+ platforms, but
74%
money is concentrated in iOS/Android
At the same time, developer platform choices are now narrowing. On
average mobile developers use 2.6 mobile platforms in our latest survey,
compared to 2.7 in 2012 and 3.2 in our 2011 survey. 80% of respondents in
our sample develop for Android, iOS or both, making them the baseline in
any platform mix. Developers that do not develop for one of these two
platforms generate, on average, half the revenue of those developers that
do, leaving little doubt as to the concentration of power within these two
major ecosystems.
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14. 6 Advertising is now the
most popular revenue model for apps
Advertising is used by 38% of developers in our global sample. At the same
time, it’s the monetisation model with the least revenue per app. In-app
purchases and Freemium are on the rise, having grown by 50% compared
to our 2012 survey and are now used by more than a quarter of the
developer population in our survey. In-app purchase is now the second
most popular revenue model on iOS, with 37% of developers using it, falling
slightly behind Pay per download.
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16. 5Google’s AdMob adopted by 65% of
developers that use ad services
AdMob has recently expanded to ad exchange services, a move that aims to
counter the threat that ad exchanges pose for Google. Second runners, each
used by 12% of developers in our sample, are Inneractive, an ad-exchange/
mediation service and InMobi, an ad network growing out of India to
become a major player in emerging markets. Apple’s iAd service comes
fourth overall with 11%, and despite being quite popular among iOS
developers, AdMob is the leading ad service on iOS, used by 66% of iOS
developers that we surveyed.
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18. 4
PhoneGap and Appcelerator
lead developer mindshare in CPTs
PhoneGap tops CPT rankings, used by 34% of developers, followed by
Appcelerator and Adobe Air with 21% and 19% developer mindshare
respectively. With over 100+ cross platform tools available, the choice for
developers can be a challenge. Amidst differentiating features for CPTs are
access to native APIs, performance optimisation and the ability to
reproduce native UI elements on each platform.
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20. 3 Google (69%) and Flurry (49%)
well ahead of competition in analytics
User analytics services are becoming increasingly important as a tool to
optimise app engagement and reach, and act as a proxy for user feedback.
User analytics services are significantly more important for iOS developers
- used by 39% of iOS developers in our survey vs. 28% for Android, 25% for
WP and 15% for BlackBerry. Usage of analytics serves as an indicator of the
level of competition among developers on different platforms.
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22. 2
The developer tools universe
expands and consolidates
The Business to Developer (B2D) market, has seen a continual expansion in
the last three years, with a flurry of B2D startups emerging to address the
ever increasing developer needs. For every 1,000 app startups, there is a
developer tools startup. In parallel, there is consolidation taking place via
organic expansion (e.g. Flurry, Papaya expanding services organically) and
via mergers and acquisitions (e.g. Appcelerator acquired Aptana, Cocoafish,
Particle Code and Nodeable, Apigee acquired Usergrid and Instaops,
Burstly acquired TestFlight and Flurry acquired Trestle).
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23. Table: Mergers and Acquisitions in the Developer Tools space
Company Product & type Acquired by Date
Aptana Development environment Appcelerator Jan-11
Metismo Bedrock Java-to-native source Software AG May-11
code translator
TapJS Game hosting platform and API AppMobi Jun-11
TapLynx App factory Push IO Jun-11
RhoMobile Rhodes enterprise apps Motorola Solutions Jul-11
framework
Particle Code HTML development tools Appcelerator Oct-11
Nitobi Makers of PhoneGap Adobe Oct-11
Strobe Web app framework and app Facebook Nov-11
management platform
Usergrid Backend-as-a-Service Apigee Jan-12
Cocoafish Post-download app services Appcelerator Feb-12
Worklight Enterprise app platform IBM Feb-12
Chomp App store search and discovery Apple Feb-12
TestFlight Beta testing Burstly Mar-12
Trestle Back-end-as-a-service Flurry Jul-12
Appstatics App performance tracking Appsfire Jul-12
service
Instaops User analytics Apigee Aug-12
Cabana A tool to turn Facebook pages to Twitter Oct-12
mobile apps
Nodeable Big data processing Appcelerator Nov-12
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24. 1 Over 500 tools for today’s app
developers, designers and entrepreneurs
In the last 3 years, developers have moved from being coders, to
innovators, designers and makers - and a prized customer for the 100s of
firms making up the SDK economy, part of the bigger B2D (business to app
developer) market. Developer needs haven’t changed much in the last few
years; what has changed is the flurry of startups, from Appcelerator to
Zong, which emerged to cater to those needs. App developers today have
over 500 third party tools (APIs, SDKs, components) to choose from,
catering to every stage along the developer journey. Developer tools, from
ad networks to user analytics SDKs are a core part of the Android and iOS
platform economics, and a major platform differentiator.
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27. About this research
Sample:
3,400+ respondents to online survey, plus 20 one-to-one qualitative
interviews with developers. Majority of respondents from Europe, but overall
sample was global (95 countries overall, respondent breakdown 39% Europe,
27% Asia, 24% N. America)
Methodology:
The online survey was available in 7 languages (English, French, German,
Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) and promoted by 25 Marketing
and Regional Partners within the app development industry. Our sampling
included campaigns by companies that are benchmarked in this research. To
avoid any bias in results where these companies are present, we derived
median values instead of averages, effectively eliminating the campaign bias.
In some instances where it was not possible to calculate the median due to
smaller sample size, we removed these campaigns altogether.
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30. We’re proud to unveil the
Developer Economics portal
The Developer Economics portal is the independent source for facts-based
insights, developer tool benchmarks and business patterns that helps app
makers and mobile product managers worldwide to build a successful app
business.
Leveraging years of developer research by VisionMobile, the brand new
portal explores how to make a business out of your app. Whether you're
after reach or income, this is the site for you!
The Developer Economics portal supplies you with the best independent
research on the app economy, distilling market noise into market sense, in
true VisionMobile tradition. Our unique insights help developers to plan,
develop and market mobile apps faster, cheaper and with better chances in
the market.
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build.developereconomics.com
31. The best independent research on
the app economy. Our unique
insights help developers to plan,
develop and market mobile apps
faster, cheaper and with better
chances in the market
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32. Systematically tracking and
benchmarking mobile developer
tools. Dozens of tool sectors,
more tools per sector, more
information per tool, and of
course everything is continuously
updated. On the site you’ll find
the best tools to boost your app
business
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33. Business patterns, leveraging
proven economic frameworks and
case studies. We don’t offer “5
easy steps to success”, but explore
together with you the difficult
questions that face every serious
app developer and the
methodologies that really work in
this fast-paced industry.
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34. NEED MORE
Quotes, charts or info?
Email:
matos@visionmobile.com
The Developer Economics 2013 report
was published on January 23 2013
free download: www.DeveloperEconomics.com
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35. Credits
About VisionMobile
VisionMobile is an ecosystems analyst firm working with top-5 telcos and handset makers.
We are best known for Developer Economics, the de-facto knowledge hub of the app
economy. We are also behind Innovation Economics, the strategy workshops helping CxOs
to define winning innovation strategies. Our mantra: distilling market noise into market
sense. To find out more, visit www.visionmobile.com
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