Developers love iPhone and iPad but are excited about Android's upside

Among mobile developers, the iPhone is still the most favored platform, ahead of Android smart phones. But the future may tilt in the favor of Android, according to a new developer survey by Appcelerator.
Developers see the iPhone and increasingly the iPad as the hot opportunity right now, with their shared iOS operating system coming out on top in seven of ten categories including best app store, biggest market for consumer apps, best devices and best near-term outlook.
But the Android operating system, which placed second in all seven of those categories, came out on top for most capabilities of an OS, most "open" platform and best long-term outlook.
Programmers seem to say that Android has potentially a bigger upside, with its operating system more open and possibly able to span not just phones and tablets but a host of other devices like TVs, set-top boxes and even cars.
The survey not only notes the potential for Android, it also highlights the increasing interest in tablet computers. Developers said they were most interested in developing for the iPhone 90 percent, followed by the iPad (84 percent), Android phones (81 percent) and Android tablets (64 percent).
Interest in the iPhone was up just 3 percentage points from a similar survey in March and the interest in Android phones remains the same from the previous report. But interest in the iPad jumped from 53 percent in March to 84 percent in June while Android tablets, which were not included in previous surveys, did incredibly well despite the fact there are no Android tablets on the market yet.
Taking a step back, it's clear that these four device platforms form the top tier of developer interest, illustrating how Apple and Google are running away with the mobile developer market.
Developer interest falls off markedly after the iPhone and Android devices, with BlackBerry (34 percent) Windows Phone 7 (27 percent) and Sybmian (15 percent) the next most popular platforms. Even with its acquisition by HP, Palm's webOS garnered only 13 percent interest from developers though that number could shoot up if HP lays out ambitious plans to embed webOS in a bunch of devices.
Appcelerator, which offers a platform for making applications, conducted the survey of 2,733 developers from June 15-17.

Source: SFGate