iPad Coders Losing Interest As Android Picks Up Slack?

If ever you needed an example that 99-percent of what you read online is speculation, trying to gage iPad developer engagement is it.  Within a space of hours, two reports have emerged suggesting that coders are both flocking to the iPad and losing interest in it.  The Wall Street Journal reckons the Apple tablet "is boosting developer interest in Apple's store because the device is set to expand the audience for apps and paves the way for developers to introduce new innovations" thanks to "key features that help play up apps, such as high-quality color touch-screens, accelerometers and relatively fast processors."  They point to Social Gaming Network, 90-percent of whose developers are busy with iPhone OS based apps.

Meanwhile, Computerworld quotes Appcelerator, who have been running platform surveys with developers and who claim that interest in the iPad has waned.  They say that, where 90-percent of developers questioned just prior to the iPad's announcement said they were planning to release software for the tablet, only 80-percent still expect to do so now.  In fact, Appcelerator reckon Android is of far more interest to developers than the iPad.

Where 58-percent of developers questioned in January said they were "very interested" in creating software for the iPad, that number has dropped to 53-percent.  Meanwhile 87-percent are "very interested" in iPhone development and 81-percent say the same about Android.  Appcelerator's head of marketing reckons that's down to the omission of potentially key features like multitasking.

"Before the announcement, there was tons of hype about the iPad, and tons of speculation about its features. After, it was clear that a couple of key features wouldn't make it in the first round, including a camera and multitasking. That's nothing that can't be fixed down the road, but it did temper enthusiasm" Scott Schwarzhoff, head of marketing, Appcelerator

[via Everything iPad]