Microsoft Surface Doesn't Impress Mobile Developers Says Survey

A survey of by IDC and mobile development tool company Appcelerator shows continued strong interest in iOS and Android development, but skepticism of Microsoft's Windows 8 and Windows Phone. The survey questioned 2,837 Appcelerator mobile developers from Nov 15-26, 2012

Google has also said that they are uninterested in writing apps for Windows 8 or Windows Phone at this time.

The survey report includes these among the key findings:

• The proliferation of iOS devices is making life difficult for developers.
• 56% of developers like Microsoft's Surface hardware, but most are skeptical of its prospects in the market. (See the graph from the report below.)
• Amazon's Kindle is struggling for developer interest.
• "...more than 53.8% of developers are 'very interested' in building apps for Google Nexus tablets.
• Developers are unimpressed with Facebook's revamped strategy and expect it to lose social market share.

Among the predictions by the survey's authors, based on the results:

• 92.9% of mobile developers predict it is 'likely to very likely' that in 2013, most retail companies will have enabled mobile commerce.
• Developers believe in augmented reality and expect it to be a hit with users.
• The hot consumer-facing categories for app development in 2013 are: business, finance, education, medical, productivity and mobile money.