A recent Strategy Analytics poll of more than 1,600 mobile developers found that more than 32% planned on creating apps for the Microsoft platform in 2014. Windows Phone is still trailing far behind Android and iOS, with 84% and 64% of developers committed to those platforms, respectively. Developers, unsurprisingly, cited those platforms’ huge user bases as their primary reason for support.
Yet the substantial jump in Microsoft’s numbers shows a definitive sign that Microsoft is beginning to close the gap.
(Why Developers will make or break the success of Microsoft’s Nokia deal)
Microsoft has had a busy year in mobile, closing a landmark deal to take over Nokia’s devices and services business, and unifying its desktop and mobile developer accounts. Not to mention its high-profile search for a successor to retiring CEO Steve Ballmer.
(Microsoft merges Windows Phone and Windows Store developer accounts)
“It seems that Windows Phone looks set to become the third ecosystem, as predicted by Elop in the infamous ‘Burning Platform’ memo,” said David MacQueen, Strategy Analytics executive director of apps and media research.
Other platforms on the rise included HTML5—rising from 33% to 43%—and Firefox, which more than tripled its number of developers from 3% to 10%.
