SANTA CRUZ, CA. January 14, 2014 It takes less time to develop apps for the Android platform than for either iOS or Windows Phone according to Evans Data’s newly released Mobile Development Survey, an in-depth worldwide survey of 464 developers actively developing apps for mobile devices. Forty-one percent of developers targeting Android said their typical app is finished in one month or less compared to 36% for iOS and 34% for Windows Phone. On all platforms the largest part of the time is spent on testing and debugging except for Firefox and Tizen, where coding takes more time. Android developers also spend the most time on testing and debugging but spend proportionately more time than developers for other platforms on performance and UI optimization.

Android, which surpassed iOS in Spring of 2011 as the top development target for smartphones, is also targeted by more developers than any other operating system for tablets. Eighty four percent of those targeting tablets target Android compared to 62% targeting iOS and 52% targeting Windows.

However, most developers target multiple platforms and they also target multiple screen sizes. Seventy-four percent emulate screen sizes before they ship their apps and all but 28% say that more than a quarter of the apps they write are designed for multiple screen sizes.

“Targeting multiple screen sizes is definitely the way to go,” said Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data. “The benefit of having your app run across the gamut of device types is obvious, and while there are difficulties in synchronization across device types, and in the range of graphics capabilities that are supported by different screens, the benefits still outweigh the effort.”

Evans Data’s Mobile Development Survey has been conducted every six months for the last 13 years. The current survey report contains over 200 pages of data on such topics as Targeted Hardware and Software, Hardware Optimization, App Monetization, Game Development, Enterprise Development, Enterprise Mobility, Cloud Mobility, Carriers, Languages Used and Development Tools, Technology Adoption, Demographics, and more.

See complete Table of Contents here: Table of Contents

Evans Data Corporation provides regularly updated IT industry market intelligence based on in-depth surveys of the global developer population. Evans' syndicated research includes surveys focused on developers in a wide variety of subjects.

Copyright 2014 Evans Data Corporation. All other company names, products and services mentioned in this document are the trademarks and property of their respective owners.

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