A key decision to make when planning which platforms to target in term of application development and deployment is which platform(s) make the most sense for your objectives. With a thriving development community surrounding more than just the iPhone OS, how do you know which platforms will generate the highest ROI for your mobile apps?
These and more are questions r2integrated aims to help answer with its new whitepaper titled “US Smart Phone Platforms: A Comparative Analysis,” in which all leading smartphone platforms in the US market are compared using a variety of data points in hopes of helping businesses make better decisions when it comes to mobile app development for smartphones.
Based on market analysis, the whitepaper identifies the six most popular smartphone platforms in the US, which include iPhone, Android, Palm’s WebOS, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS and RIM’s Blackberry. In terms of market share, while Symbian dominates worldwide share of smartphones, with 46%, it’s a far different picture in the US. As of October, 2009, RIM held the majority of market share in terms of smartphone usage in the US at 41%, while the iPhone was a distant second at 25%, followed closely by Windows Mobile in third at 20%. This is significant for decision makers wanting to target the US market over a worldwide audience.
One of the most interesting data points analyzed in the whitepaper was a survey conducted in October and December of 2009, which looked at what smartphone platforms consumers were most interested in buying during their next purchase, giving a clear picture of what platforms are most popular with consumers. 32% of respondents indicated their next purchase would be an iPhone in October of 2009, but that number dropped to 28% in December. Android, however, showed the most improvement in terms of consumer willingness, with only 6% indicating Android was their next purchase choice in October, rising to 21% when asked again in December.
The whitepaper, like most resources published by r2integrated, is a very interesting and detailed read, with much more comparison and analysis on several levels- including distribution, development penetration and usage, various platform feature-sets, cross-platform development analysis and much more. If you’re planning mobile application development, you already know that due diligence and plenty of research is necessary to make sure you make the right decision and invoke the highest ROI possible for your endeavors. This new whitepaper is a great resource to start with.
