• eweek, Tuesday, December 1, 2009 1:26 PM

It's not yet clear how many iPhone app developers profit from their labor, or what those profits amount to. What is clear -- according to a small survey conducted by Skyhook Wireless -- is that there's presently no incentive for those developers to refocus their efforts on Google's Android mobile operating system. The navigation software maker sampled 30 Android developers and found that 57% of developers said they are not satisfied with their profits on Android.

One problem, developers say, is Google's insistence on having three versions of the open source operating system -- Android 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0 -- each with unique firmware. At the moment, there are thousands of Android developers who have built an estimated 15,000 apps. As small as the survey pool may be, 82% said the design of the Android Marketplace made it difficult for apps to be noticed, while a full 68% said they were "somewhat or not likely" to put further work into their apps, compared to when they first released their app.

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