Appcelerator’s Quarterly Survey Results show iOS dominant in the Enterprise

For all the talk about how Apple is not enterprise friendly, I was surprised to find the news that more than 50% of enterprise app developers want to target iOS in the quarterly survey that Appcelerator runs.

Survey Results
From Appcelerator’s quarterly survey

This shift from Android to iOS continues to reflect, in my opinion, the challenges of targeting Android’s plethora of form factors, and the continued dominance of the iPad in the enterprise for tablets.  I am not sure that this result will last too long, given the amazing popularity of the Nexus tablet, and the continued lack of a 7 inch iPad option.

The other big potential monkey wrench is Windows 8 and its support of both Desktop and Tablets in one package.  This should make for some interesting times for App developers over the next year.

Open Development vs. Open Source

Sitting in my favorite coffee shop this morning (BeanTraders), while working on the edit for one of my other podcasts (GamesAtWork.Biz) I got to thinking about Open Source vs. Open Development (btw, open development doesn’t have a dedicated wikipedia page, so I guess it means too many different things to too many different people).  A quick definition that I would like to put forward is “doing your development in the open so others can understand your process and progress.”

I’ve been a supporter of each of these within the appropriate context.  Open source is the easy one to think of.  There are multiple great examples of open source projects that have taken the world by storm, Linux and Android are in my mind poster children.  When it comes to open development, there are a few great examples too – IBM has Jazz.Net, Linux has the Open Source Development Labs, and Nokia has Maemo. (Full disclosure in my day job I work for IBM).

I find that Open Development is a great way to build interest and engagement with your work, while still allowing for innovation that drives revenue and other monetary rewards for the work that you do.  Open Source, on the other hand is also great, but for different reasons.  Open source allows you to take a fairly commodity technology and make it even more accessible.  It allows developers to show case their skills in a very public way, with direct feedback and support from developers in similar areas.

Open Source becomes the most public way of doing Open Development… So it’s not a verses in my mind, but a complementary project.  What do you think?

Coding makes you happy

I’ve been in the “IT Industry” for longer than many of my developer friends have been alive.  I started programming in high school, but had the opportunity in elementary school to play on an IBM Mini Computer at Riverside College in California, oh yeah, it used punch cards!!!

I find that while working thru a difficult bug or routine or design can be extremely frustrating, there is nothing more gratifying than actually getting it done.  So gratifying in fact that many times when I am coding time stands still and I have my Fiero moment well past the time any normal person would be in bed.  I spend most of my days now, no longer coding but working on business cases and power point charts.  And while I still love what I do, I can’t think of a single Fiero moment in doing those.

Lately I’ve been working on a game for the iPhone and iPad…  It’s great to have that much happiness!

Last Night’s TechCrunch Mini-Meetup

Wow, even with the threat of storms and the last minute change of venue, there were at least 300-400 people who attended the meet up.  It was great to meet a bunch of new startups working on Mobile Device Apps, and also some who were working on the interaction between work and play.  The other very interesting group of people I talked with are those doing work around analytics and social media.  While I didn’t remember to get a card from all the people I talked with, a few local groups that I did remember to get are here (not in any particular order):

Archive Social – A company that specializes in allowing people in regulated industries to use social media

S.T.E.N.C.I.L – A developer of software for education to help improve outcomes for at-risk students.

Urban Planet Mobile – Local developers helping people learn new languages.

I am really looking forward to learning more about each of these groups, as well as the upcoming App development class that Paul Jones, from UNC and iBiblio.org, is working on.  Exciting times.

Tonight’s TechCrunch Mini-Meetup

When is a mini-meetup a blow out!  When there are over 600 people signed up.  I am really looking forward to heading over in a few hours  to the TechCrunch Mini Meetup, the this number they have just announced that it has moved to Bay 7 (and to address the potential for rain.  As I’ve been saying on this reason for this blog, the RTP area is a vibrant location for start ups and for mobile development.  If you see me tonight introduce yourself, especially if you are a local mobile developer.  Let’s see how we can show off your work!

BYOD impact on app development

I saw a study a few weeks back that stated 60% of independent app developers are enterprise developers in the day and app developers by night and weekend. While this sounds right from a pure numbers perspective, it got me thinking about how the BYOD (bring your own device) trend in the enterprise may be impacting the types of apps independent developers may be writing. (Stay with me on this one).

in my day job, as I mentioned before, I work for IBM and we have a very strong BYOD program, to the point that many develops are not only bringing in their own mobile devices, but their own laptops so they can be as productive as possible. Years ago it used to be that your best computer was at work, they could afford the expensive ones. At home you got a good enough computer. Now computers are much cheaper, and finance is always looking to extend the accounting life of corporate assets that it may be 4 or more years before you can upgrade your machine at work. So the best deal is buy your own, get what you need, and customize it so you are as comfortable and productive as possible. This same trend has happened with smart phones and will happen for tablets.

So if your development environment is becoming more and more personal, and since many of us write our first mobile app, as something useful we want that doesn’t exist, are we finding more and more mobile apps that bridge the personal and enterprise workspace? I suggest that this is exactly what is happening. And this is of some concern for corporate types, since as you start sharing apps between your day job and your personal life, you have the possibility of sharing data between them too. And with more and more features of mobile device and apps being enabled via shared cloud storage – this is where companies like IBM get concerned about data ending up on servers that can be seen by other companies.

So, the challenge is, how do you create apps in this environment that provide you and your users with as many useful features as possible, without getting banned from an enterprise environment? Do you create two versions of your app? One that uses cloud services, and the other that can use an on premise server for those enterprises willing to buy it? Or do you just shy away from apps that could have a valid enterprise use? Or do you offering some kind of in app encryption so that cloud based data can only be accessed by your app?

I believe this challenge is only going to get more difficult before it is resolved. What are your thoughts?

Working on new review

I am hoping to get the point to where I can post a weekly review, but right now I feel that if I can do monthly I am being pretty successful. Having said that I am pretty excited to be heading to the TechCrunch meetup on July 10th at Tyler’s Taproom in Durham. Come and say hi!

Episode 1 – Downcast App

Well, I have finally gotten the first episode of Triangle App Show edited and clean up.. including my attempt at writing a theme song. Seth McFarland from Downcast was kind enough almost a year ago to be the first person to record an interview with me. Now that I have the Reflections Application on my Mac, I have captured a current review of the capabilities of his fine podcatcher. And you will be the beneficiary of updated video editing software and a few new ideas. I would love to get your ideas and input on this post recording.

IBM Innovate and Mobile

As part of my Day Job, I work for IBM in the Rational Software Brand.  I do business strategy, this means I look at how Rational can develop and address new markets, as well as how we work across the rest of IBM.  In that role I focus on Mobile, DevOps, Cloud and SaaS.  I was able to go to our IBM Innovate conference and speak in the Mobile Track and the Executive Track on work that I am doing in my day to day activities.  I also did a series of blog posts in the IBM Mobile Frontier blog over on DeveloperWorks.

I won’t repeat all the content over here… The focus of this site is independent app developers…  not enterprise app developers.  So I wanted to ask – Do you develop Hybrid Apps?   Hybrid apps are apps that leverage web technologies like HTML5, but are wrapped in a native platform application.  If you are developing for multiple platforms and device configurations, Hybrid Apps can let you quickly deploy “native” apps on iOS, Android, RIM, and Windows Phone, that leverage your skills as a web developer.  I personally see huge amount of value to this for enterprises, but I am not sure this translates over to independent developers.

What do you think?

Games at Work dot Biz

I am one of the Michael’s over at Games At Work dot Biz. Over the last month I’ve been working to get the site up and running and move our content from it’s old home at Dogear-nation. It certainly had been a learning experience, makes me appreciate all the hard work of the various co-hosts, who also did site maintenance, went thru to make it the site it ended up. Matt Simpson, Steven Harrison, and Andy Piper. I owe each of them a debt of gratitude for working thru a lot of the complexities of building the site, and giving me a great starting point when I built the new site. I also discovered how selfless they were on registering and buying some awesome plugins. I purchased many of the same ones for Games At Work dot Biz.

Go check it out and let me know what you think. I will be posting my first video over here this weekend.