Developers selling apps through RIM's BlackBerry App World make more money than those creating for the Apple App Store or Android Market, states a new report from the Evans Data Corporation.
While the majority of the more than 400 developers surveyed said they believed that in two years' time Google's Android Market would "edge out" Apple's App Store as the more dominant market, and more said they had experience with the Android Market than the App Store (47% versus 43%), it's the more-ignored BlackBerry App World that offers the biggest payback.
"The industry has a perception that developers are going to target either Android or Apple, and those two will define the market," Janel Garvin, CEO of Evans Data Corp., said in a statement. "However, there's room for more than two. BlackBerry developers are not as plentiful but 13% make over $100,000 from the App World apps, which is considerably more than Android or Apple developers, and will help that platform continue to be compelling to developers, especially in the enterprise."
It's unclear whether that will change next year when RIM releases a new round of smartphones running the QNX platform currently used by its PlayBook tablet. The QNX devices will be compatible with Android software, RIM confirmed during its earnings call in March (CP: RIM's take on Android: Why not both beat AND join them?)
The Evans Data Corp. study additionally found the number-one complaint among developers to be the lack of visibility for their apps in app stores.
Games were named as the most likely app to wind up in an app store (by 27% of respondents), followed by business apps (21%) and productivity apps (20%).
And developers shared that "paid apps with no ads" is their first choice monetization model, followed by subscriptions.
A July survey by IDC and Appcelerator (MDP: Appcelerator, Maker Of The Titanium Cloud Platform, Launches Open Mobile Marketplace) found 50% of developers to prefer app store sales as a business model, down from 59% in January. There's a trend, instead, toward an in-app purchase model, which was preferred by 42% in January, 43% in July and forecast to reach 50% in 2012.
