Anyone endeavoring to develop a modestly successful mobile application has some tough decisions to make before even writing a single line of code. From platform to pricing model to functionality to distribution to marketing. In this series of blog posts we will explore the various factors that we need to consider in order to develop a successful mobile application. The first post in this series talks about the various platforms available and the pros and cons of each. This post will specifically focus on development of native applications for smartphone. For a discussion on native vs mobile web (HTML5) apps, click here.

I was recently talking to a large multinational bank on how they manage their mobile apps development. They told me that currently they have apps on 9 different platforms. Given that they are a large multinational with plenty of resources, they can support so many platforms. However, for average startup, individual developer or a small business, a more realistic number may be 1 or 2, given the resource constraints. So, how do we decide on which platforms to support?

Assuming that you are developing for the US market, the most recent Neilsen report indicates that 40% of the mobile phone market in US is penetrated by smartphones. Of those 40%, the dominant platform is Android with 40% followed by Apple iOS with 28%, RIM Blackberry with 19%, Microsoft Windows Mobile (6.5 and below) at 7%, Microsoft Windows Phone 7 at 1% and other OS (webOS, Meego, Symbian, etc) at 5%. Based on these statistics and leaving aside other factors of the reducing market share of Blackberry and good reviews of the Windows Phone, etc, it would be a good bet to start developing an app on one of the top three platforms.

Next, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of the top 3 app platforms:

Android:

Pros:

• Dominant OS on Smartphones in US with 40% share.
• Open source platform (?).
• Fastest growing market place with 275K+ apps and over 6 billion apps downloaded worldwide (per AndroLib) .
• Royalty (30%) for paid apps and in-app purchases published on Android Marketplace.
• Immediate deployment to Marketplace.
• Higher average price point for paid apps at $4.57 (see infographic below).
• Strong developer network leveraging Java and C.

Cons:

• Huge device fragmentation with differing screen sizes and other hardware.
• Huge OS version fragmentation with 51% devices still on Froyo (version 2.2) and 30% on Gingerbread (ver 2.3.3 or 2.3.4) and remaining split across Cupcake (versions 1.5)  thru Honeycomb (ver. 3.2.x).
• 60% of apps downloaded from Android Marketplace are free apps.

Apple iOS:

Pros:

• The leading app store with nearly 500K apps and over 15 billion apps downloaded since 2008.
• Strong customer base with 200 million users.
• Good developer network with established APIs.
• Same app can run on iPhones, iTouches, & iPads.
• Minimal device fragmentation.
• 71% of apps downloaded are paid apps.

Cons:

• 2 weeks lead time to deploy to App Store.
• 30% royalty for both App Store and in-app purchases.
• Lowest average price point for the top 100 paid apps (see infographic below).
• Smaller market size than Android in terms of devices.

Blackberry:

Pros:

• Solid presence in enterprises.
• Robust device management features.
• Highest average price point for the top 100 paid apps (see infographic below).

Cons:

• High price floor for paid apps ($2.99 at Tier 2 – paid apps).
• Small number of apps (~25000+ in the App World) with 1 billion downloads.
• Losing market share.

Here is a bit outdated but great infographic  created by WebPage FX on the various app stores  that put some of the points above succinctly:

(Via GottaBeMobile.com)