Android wins over OSS developers
Google’s Android mobile phone operating system is winning many fans. And now it appears to be winning the hearts of open source developers as well. Which is good news for users looking for more applications, and good news for the future health of the Android ecosphere.
Over the course of 2009 a significant portion of open source developers switched onto Android. This is according to research conducted by Black Duck Software.
According to Black Duck’s research there were 903 new open source mobile projects created over the course of 2009, bringing the total to over 3200.
This was an increase of 39% over 2008.
The study found that 224 of the 903 new projects created in 2009 were for the Google’s Android operating system, a 168% increase over the previous year. The iPhone, with an increase of 76 new open source applications in 2009, was some way behind, accounting for a 43% increase over 2008.
Windows Mobile also enjoyed a healthy increase in OSS applications during 2009, increasing by 75, marginally behind the iPhone.
Looked at another way, 25% of all new open source mobile applications created in 2009 were for the Android platform.
Reasons for the rapid uptake in Android among open source developers is no doubt affected by the increase in smartphone shipments as well as the rapidly maturing Android ecosphere.
Peter Vescuso of Black Duck Software said that the “strong growth in open source mobile projects reflects the sustained strength of the smart phone market, and Android’s accelerating growth in 2009 indicates that mobile application developers are drawn to open source platforms that have broad adoption by multiple handset manufacturers and mobile operators.”
He also pointed out that while RIM continued to dominate the smartphone market and Symbian accounted for around 49% of the worldwide smartphone operating systems, Android’s open source platform appeared to be attracting much more interest from open source developers.
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