With Facebook’s nearly 900 million users and over 425 million mobile users, it sort of feels pretty clear that it’d be the leader in social mobile development, right- Wrong. a brand new study from Appcelerator and the International Data Corporation (IDC) found that developers are more enthusiastic about Google than Facebook.
Do you favor apps developed for Google platforms or for Facebook- Tell us within the comments.
Also read: Does Google Need to be Labeled Evil-
According to the report, 39 percent of the greater than 2,000 mobile developers surveyed plan to focus more on Google initiatives than Facebook’s social graph this year. The rationale this number is so significant is because of the indisputable fact that Facebook dominates the marketplace in most metrics.
It’s important to think about that developers have an exceedingly strong sway over the usage of any platform. They’re, of course, those creating the apps that you simply use. Consider how much Zynga has helped Facebook, by providing users with games like Farmville, Cityville and Mafia Wars. These findings are very significant, and feature major implications for Google’s social endeavors. In fact, the Google ecosystem is far larger than simply Google+. Google’s Vic Gundotra recently said how Google counts users who sign into Google+, and use another Google product within a month, as users. Presumably, this includes Gmail, YouTube, a signed in Google search (complete with Search Plus Your World), Google Reader, etc. In keeping with Gundotra, Google+ has 100 million “30-day active” users.
Google installed a robust showing on the recent Game Developers Conference (granted, so did Facebook).
Michael King, the principal mobile strategist at Appcelerator, told us that because these findings were “so different than what we expected,” they conducted a follow up study to be sure the consequences were accurate.
“For us, it was extremely surprising. Once we prepare the survey, we really thought Facebook would just crush Google relating to social engagement, and quite frankly, we saw Google make an enormous showing, given the indisputable fact that their social initiatives are pretty well dwarfed by Facebook in every measurable manner,” he said.
They learned that developers are pursuing Google over Facebook for its position in social and mobile. They think Google is best when it comes to its network assets corresponding to YouTube, search, maps, and Android. Additionally they felt Google engages with them better and provides more guidance into how they need to approach social applications.
On the opposite hand, the developers feel that Facebook gives them a protracted list of what may also be done with its API, but then doesn’t offer any direction for the way to do it.
“They [Facebook] actually need to step up their engagement a bit of so that it will get the developers taken with the platforms and to get the developers brooding about alternative ways to make use of social of their mobile apps,” said King.
While this information is excellent news for Google, the study did find some less encouraging news for the hunt and advertising giant when it comes to Android development. The study found that the interest in Android development has dipped greater than 10 percent during the past 3 quarters. Incidentally, Mika Mobile announced that it was dropping support for Android earlier this month.
The iOS platform has remained the steady leader, but inside the 2nd quarter of last year, Android was within 2 percentage points of it, said King. In accordance with him, Android is dropping as a consequence of continued fragmentation of the platform.
“It is a very tough line for them to stroll because, in case you curtail fragmentation, then there’s no way that a developer can effectively write once and work across multiple Android devices,” King noted.
He told us that Google could help to unravel this issue by establishing itself as a “centralized authority.” King believes this may help both the distribution and discovery of apps.
Other significant findings within the study pertained to HTML5 and cloud development. For starters, both areas are growing. Around 79 percent of developers said they planned to integrate HTML5 into the apps they build this year. But, only 6 percent of developers will write their entire apps in HTML5. Most developers plan to construct hybrid apps using both HTML5 and standard code.
King told us these results were understandable since HTML5 isn’t always always appropriate for the job.
“HTML5 is just one tool within the bag,” he said. “Or, in case you a golf fan, [it’s] one club inside the bag that can assist you get to the PGA tour.”
Additionally, developers expressed an increased interest in cloud development, especially within the areas of location and notification. However, King said developers still struggle with understanding the way to utilize the cloud.
So, what does all this research mean- Overall, King told us that the mobile/social wars have just begun. He believes that if companies would like to reach this space, they must engage with developers.
Furthermore, he suggested that the deeper implications of the information could mean a shift toward Google+ over Facebook. In truth, when asked if Google+ could catch as much as Facebook, nearly 70 percent of respondents said it would.
“If Facebook decides to go to sleep on the wheel here and doesn’t start to engage those developers, then absolutely Google+ and Google mobile may become the more de facto standard,” said King.
He went directly to say that he hopes both companies will reply to this report by building on their strengths and improving their weaknesses.
An interesting thing about Google mobile, however, is that Google continues to tie a lot of its products and platforms together in additional ways, making the bigger ecosystem more unified. Think Android, YouTube, Google Play, and Google TV. If what co-founder Sergey Brin said holds up, Chrome and Android will likely merge someday, in addition.
If this trend is going on with developers, will it soon transition to consumers too- Let us know what you think that.
WebProNews Senior Writer Chris Crum contributed to this report.