Developer economics 2013 top 10+1 insights

KEY GRAPHS & INSIGHTS FROM THE REPORT

-  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

Developer Economics 2013

Top 10+1 insights and charts

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

11

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%).

10

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.

9

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

8

74% of developers use 2+ platforms, but 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.

7

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.

6

Google’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.

5

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.

4

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.

3

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).

2

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 code translator

Software AG May-11

TapJS Game hosting platform and API AppMobi Jun-11

TapLynx App factory Push IO Jun-11

RhoMobile Rhodes enterprise apps framework

Motorola Solutions Jul-11

Particle Code HTML development tools Appcelerator Oct-11

Nitobi Makers of PhoneGap Adobe Oct-11

Strobe Web app framework and app management platform

Facebook Nov-11

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 service

Appsfire Jul-12

Instaops User analytics Apigee Aug-12

Cabana A tool to turn Facebook pages to mobile apps

Twitter Oct-12

Nodeable Big data processing Appcelerator Nov-12

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.

1

Survey methodology

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.

Developer Portal

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.

build.developereconomics.com

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

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

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.

NEED MORE Quotes, charts or info?

Email: [email protected] The Developer Economics 2013 report was published on January 23 2013 free download: www.DeveloperEconomics.com

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

Developer economics 2013 top 10+1 insights

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