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According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Android is going to be attracting the lion’s share of developer interest over the next six months, with developers preferring to create apps for Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich rather than Apple’s iOS. If that’s true, and the market is heading in that direction, shouldn’t we be seeing signs of a shift in developer preference towards the Android platform, as well as a significant increase in ad revenue?
As of yet, that has not happened. Android is definitely in the lead as far as unit sales and activation numbers go, but iOS is still the more popular app environment. In a recently released report, Mobile analytics leader Flurry has data confirming that developers are relying on iOS apps during the holiday season. And for good reason – Flurry’s analysis of 135,000 Android and Apple developers who use Flurry analytics shows that Android developers are making just 24 percent of what Apple developers earn.
Android may generate $833 million in ad revenue per year, but two thirds of that sum comes from iOS devices. That’s also just a small fraction of Apple’s income, which was enough to pay out $3 billion to developers through October 2011. On average, for every $1.00 generated on iOS, the same app generates $0.24 on Android.
Developers who use Flurry have started more than twice as many new projects on iOS, and interest in Android has fallen 10% since the beginning of the year. The further shift towards iOS can be attributed to the iPad 2 in February and the iPhone 4S in October. Although there were many new Android devices released, they received a lukewarm welcome from developers, who did not shift priorities to Android.

During the third quarter, Flurry saw an aggressive expansion of the total market in anticipation of the iPhone 4S and the upcoming holidays, a phenomenon the analytics company has experienced in past years as well. That interest in Android has dropped over the course of the year, especially during the holiday season, is telling. At this point, Android is not where the money is at, and developers are going where the money is – iOS.
Android has some serious catching up to do in order to meet that six month deadline.
via : Padgadget