Mobile-application developers in North America rank AT&T as the best carrier for developers in the region, according to a recent report by Evans Data Corp.
When asked to rank the capabilities that carriers offer to developers, those in North America ranked AT&T better than all competitors in four key areas: application distribution, tools, supported technologies and market potential.
Having an exclusive deal with Apple for the iPhone, at least to this point, has played well for AT&T with developers. But that soon may change with Apple and Verizon joining forces.
However, AT&T was ranked best in mobile-application distribution by 37 percent of the mobile developers polled-almost twice as many as Sprint, which ranked second in that category. Meanwhile, 26 percent of developers said AT&T has the best tool offerings, almost a quarter more than those who said T-Mobile, the next choice, did. AT&T also edged out Verizon as the carrier with the best-supported technologies and the best market potential. When all four categories were combined, AT&T was selected as tops by almost twice as many developers than the next-closest competitor, Verizon.
“AT&T has been diligent in creating a full-service developer program, and obviously values developers and understands their importance” Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data, said in a statement. “Of course, the exclusive arrangement with Apple helped them gain steam in app distribution and market potential, and that edge may disappear now, but all the important basics, like tool offerings and supported technologies, are a notch above at AT&T, according to North American mobile developers.”
The study also showed that 73 percent of mobile developers plan to extend enterprise applications to mobile devices in the next 12 months. Also, the mobile developers surveyed listed Java as their most-targeted platform, with 62 percent currently creating mobile Java applications-more than iPhone, Android or any other platform.
In addition, while the study found that 76 percent of the mobile developers polled said they are concerned about government interference in the mobile market, 32 percent said they are very concerned about this.
Evans Data’s Mobile Development Survey is conducted twice a year and focuses on mobile development worldwide. It includes such as topics as platforms, APIs, application stores and application distribution, and other mobile-development topics.