Which Platform should you develop for first?

Blog Post 10: Which platform should you develop for first.

Well, it is almost 2013, so I will spend the next few posts talking about what to do in 2013. I will start with, what to start with.

So, let's say you have this great idea for an app. Now, which platform should you do first? That is the question. You have a few choices. Of course, if you want to make a desktop app, you basically have two approaches.

1. The $$$ way - This just means doing Windows first. Most users have Windows, so you will make more money this way. However, this is also the most difficult. Because of Windows 8, you really need to write two apps now. A "modern" app. (For Windows RT and Tablet-based 8 devices) and a normal "ancient" app. Microsoft's development tools aren't as nice as Apple's, so this makes it a little more difficult. 
2. The convenient way -  Or, you could develop for OS X first. As long as you are already aware of the language, this will go MUCH faster. You can develop OS X apps at a faster pace, and I would argue that you can make better apps this way. Apple's tools are very nice, and you only need to develop for one platform. Plus, if you ever want it to go mobile, it will be pretty easy. The downside of course is the lack of users. Not as many people have Macs, so you will lose profit.

Now, the better question. This is turning into a mobile world. So, you may instead want to create a mobile app. But which platform. You have quite a few choices.

• iOS
• Android
• Windows Phone
• HTML (Chrome OS, Firefox OS, other browsers)

Let us take a look at market share

As you can see. It really comes down to Android and iOS. This is quite a shocker actually. In the past, iOS has been the clear winner. It looks like that is starting to falter. Android is now in the lead, and although the amount of people that will download your app is probably lower than 68.3 %, we do need to consider this.

Now, perhaps it is smarter to do Android first, but remember this. It is harder to monetize your app on Android. Most apps are free on Google Play, so people will a little more hesitant to buy things. Also realize, that it will take a lot longer to develop for Android. Android is more fragmented, so getting your app to work on all of these devices is not pretty.

To summarize, I would personally do iOS first, but at the rate Android is going, by 2014, I think Android will be first priority.