Developer Interest In Windows Phone Grows As Microsoft’s Windows 8.x Platform Slips

This morning Appcelerator and IDC released the results of a developer survey they executed in November. The data indicates that while Windows Phone is seeing record developer interest, Windows itself is slipping.

Polled on if they were “very interested” in developing for various platforms, Windows Phone received an affirmative from around 37% of developers. Windows itself dipped below the 35% mark. Last August, Windows was close to 40% interest, and has declined or stayed flat in all polling points in the interim.

Interest in Windows Phone has gyrated through time, going through cyclical ups and downs. We’re at a peak at the moment. In August of 2012, when Windows was at its developer interest maximum, Windows Phone attracted a “very interested” rating from a mere 22% or so of developers. So, it has managed to grow that tally by more than 50% through 2013.

That’s not surprising, given that Windows Phone has had a breakthrough year, growing its unit volume and finally besting Blackberry as the established third place platform.

Still, it excites barely more than a third of developers.

More than 50% of developers said they were very interested in building for the Kindle Fire. 84% said the same about the iPhone, and 82% about the iPad. So, Microsoft’s platforms, though attracting some attention, are certainly still lower on developer radar than the company wants, and certainly needs.

Here’s the chart of developer’s claiming that they are very interested in building for Windows:

What’s a bummer about that line for Microsoft is that it declines, even as the Windows 8.x install base grows. So, despite an improving developer experience — more units sold, more downloads, presumably — interest is flagging. The decline is minor, but at a time Microsoft is working to build out the Windows Store, the line should be pointing in the other direction.

On a completely different note, the rest of the survey is an interesting read if you need to catch up on the platform wars. Facebook is the most popular data source developers are using in their applications. Google+ is a surprising third, etc.

Top Image Credit: Flickr

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