Originally published at thinktank.personagraph.com.

Anyone who thinks about developing an app comes across this question: which platform shall I choose to develop an app for? The two obvious choices are Android and iOS since they make up 96.4 percent of today’s sold smartphones worldwide. Additionally, Windows Phone could be an option to consider. It’s a small niche but definitely has priority for Microsoft so who knows what is yet to come. Blackberry seems to be slowly dying and might be pulling out of the consumer smartphone market completely. So which one(s) to choose? We will discuss the pros and cons of iOS, Android and Windows Phone to help you make the right decision for your next app.

iOS

Apple was the first company to bring a real smartphone to the market and managed to attract many developers to its operating system and App Store. Today there are over 1.2 million apps in the App Store and this number is still growing.

Pros

• Limited amount of different devices and screen sizes
• Large community of developers for support
• Many “Featured” lists on App Store improve discoverability
• Most lucrative platform per user (for now)
• Suitable for enterprise market with special security features

Cons

• Stringent conditions apply to be allowed on the App Store
• Relatively expensive for small developers
• Closed operating system, relatively limited in access to full OS

Android

Google soon followed with its own OS when Apple launched the iPhone. Since then Android has grown to become the dominant OS in the market today by and large. The number of apps on Google Play is estimated to be 1.2 million as well.

Pros

• Largest user base and still growing rapidly
• Open ecosystem, full access to SDK
• Fast deployment and updating of apps in Play Store
• Keyword search driven discoverability in Play Store
• Cost effective: low registration fee and many free development tools available
• Large community of developers for support
• Sharing options enabled in Play Store
• Wide range of payment methods for downloaders (including carrier billing)
• Alternative Android app stores exist that can distribute your app

Cons

• Security risks
• Fragmented market, many devices and screen sizes
• Developing a good app is generally more difficult
• Relatively low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
• Weak in enterprise market due to security risks and fragmentation

Windows Phone

Although a late bloomer in the consumer smartphone market, Windows Phone has been outperforming veteran Blackberry in recent years. Windows Store contains around 400,000 apps although there are questions concerning the percentage of apps that are scams.

Pros

• High discoverability because of limited amount of apps in Windows Store
• Easy for existing Windows developers to start building for Windows Phone
• Seamless integration with Windows possible, still most popular desktop OS in the world
• Comprehensive enterprise integration possibilities

Cons

• Small user base
• Small developer community to find support specific to Windows Phone
• Visual Studio only runs on Windows Vista and beyond
• Relatively expensive for small developers in terms of tools and fees

All three of these app stores will roughly take a 30% share of your in-app revenue when transactions are carried out through their respective infrastructure. Webapps can circumvent this charge but this usually results in lower performance. This also applies to apps created with Phonegap or other tools that allow you to translate an app written in C# to all platforms. These services are particularly suited for apps that don’t need the full range of functionalities and have limited graphical gimmicks.

Many startups have an “iOS first” strategy, simply because the average iOS app earns 85% more revenue than the average Android app, as was found by App Annie. However, averages mean little for an individual app and your app’s category might be thriving better on Android or Windows Phone. Also, and perhaps more importantly, your personal preferences and skills need to be taken into account as well. Given that over 50% of developers are motivated to build apps by creativity and sense of achievement, developing is a highly personal endeavour. Because in the end, it’s you that has to do the work to get that sense of achievement.