Android closing gap with Apple iOS in terms of developer interest

A survey on Tuesday showed that developer interest in Google’s Android mobile phone platform rose, narrowing the gap with Apple’s iOS.

The survey released by IDC said that 87 percent of the developers are ‘very interested’ in creating applications for Android platform, up 5 percentage points in three months.

However, Apple iOS retains the top position with 92 percent of developers surveyed showing interested in developing apps for the platform.

Also, the survey revealed developers are pushing Android-powered tablets to the top of their priority list, encouraged by a set of new releases of those devices.

“Google has nearly caught up to Apple in smartphone popularity and is closing the gap in tablets,” the survey said.

IDC showed that 74 percent of survey respondents interested in developing apps for Android powered tablets, gaining 12 points from the earlier survey. However, Apple’s iPad remained as the top preference for 87 percent of the developers.

With the Android Tablet market set to explode this year, 57 percent of developers say price will be the most important factor for success, followed by minimized fragmentation (49 percent) and then Android Honeycomb OS capabilities, IDC said.

It also showed an increased developer interest in BlackBerry Playbook to 28 percent from 16 percent in the previous survey.

Windows Phone 7 rose 8 points to 36 percent of developers indicating they are 'very interested' due to a better-than-expected launch. The survey found that Windows Phone’s improved UI was a critical factor for the increase.