In way, this shouldn’t really surprise many who work in the mobile industry, but it makes for interesting reading all the same. Forrester have just released their latest report on spending in the mobile markets and iOS once again is the favoured platform for making purchases. According to the report iOS users are roughly 30% more likely to make a purchase on their phones and 15% more likely to use their phone for research than Android users are. Firmest signal yet that iOS Backend as a Service will become the default infrastructure to power enterprise mobility.
(UPDATE 2017: Still holding mostly true, as this report shows that 77% of purchases were made in iOS in 2015.)
This isn’t exactly a shocking turn of events, iOS has long established itself as the primary purchase platform. The gap between iOS and Android purchasing has shortened considerably in the last couple of years as Android becomes more and more dominant in terms of device numbers but iOS is still ahead. The recent NSA scandle that Apple has been trying to distance itself from at every opportunity will probably affect these numbers, but overall iOS should stay in the lead.
What this translates into is businesses who are looking for apps are going to iOS first. 99% of all businesses surveyed who were wanting an app said they were looking at iOS. Money talks after all. That doesn’t mean that Android is being left out in the lurch though, with 96% of businesses saying they were also considering an app on Google’s platform as well. Between the two giants, in terms of commercial interest, there really doesn’t seem to be much difference. Everyone wants a piece of their app-le pie (puns never get old).
The same cannot be said for Windows Phone or Blackberry though. There is apparently a very steep cliff of interest once you go past the two fortresses of iOS and Android, with only the biggest companies considering the two smaller OS for business apps.
This comes from the ebusiness sides of companies only having a (relatively) small budget, and when you factor in two high end apps on iOS and Android, there’s not a lot left usually for the other OS to be there at the party. The model seems to be splitting a little, with iOS and Android becoming so big that even if you wanted to develop for other OS, the inherent costs and extra effort required inhibits many from going for it.
This is where HTML 5 and hybrid apps will come into their own. There is a big debate on the performance of these apps compared to native, but as the mobile OS market expands outwards, it will make more and more sense to invest time into building cross platform rather than narrowing it down.
Luckily, Kumulos supports iOS, Android and Windows Phone, so if you’re looking to build an app and need a Mobile Backend as a Service, we’ve got you covered. So why not get in touch with us today?
