Mobile Dev Skills a Hot Commodity
A spate of recent reports all point to the fact that mobile development skills are a hot commodity these days. That means mobile development skills could gain job seekers a premium when they are looking for work, and a mobile development specialty could provide IT solution providers an edge against competitors.
Mobile Dev Skills in Demand
A recent report by Elance showed that in the first quarter of 2010, the mobile development skills category saw a 98 percent increase in the number of job posts by employers year over year.
The mobile development skills category also jumped 21 places on Elance’s IT Top 50 Skills ranking.
iPhone Developers Wanted
iPhone developers on Elance made $1,400,141 in the last six months and more than 656 new iPhone development gigs were posted on the site in the last month
Fast Growing Market for Mobile Apps
Gartner analysts recently predicted that 2010 will see 4.5 billion mobile apps sold, calculating a $6.8 billion market revenue total.
By 2013, those figures will add up to 21.6 billion apps sold and $29.5 billion in revenue.
Android Gains Followers
From the developer’s perspective, a survey by Appcelerator showed that 86 percent of developers are interested in writing apps for Google’s Android mobile OS in the next year.
But Apple iPhone and iPad Platforms Still Strong
Meanwhile, 80 percent of developers are interested in writing applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
BlackBerry and Windows Phone Platforms Still Garner Interest, Too
Similarly 43 percent were interested in Research in Motion’s BlackBerry and 34 percent in Windows Phone platforms.
Productivity Improvements Drive Mobile App Deployment in the Enterprise
On the enterprise front, a new survey out by Sterling Commerce showed that approximately 90 percent of enterprises believe that increasing worker productivity and responsiveness as drivers for deploying mobile applications.
Where Enterprises Deploy Devices
-95 percent are deploying mobile devices for executive management and IT pros-87 percent are deploying them for sales professionals and administrative workers
Where Enterprises Deploy Devices
-75 percent are offering field service personnel mobile devices-65 percent are deploying mobile devices in the supply chain, building security or customer service
Which Verticals are Committing to Mobile?
-39 percent of distribution and logistics companies have deployed mobile field service and field sales professional applications and transportation and shipping management applications.-53 percent of retail companies are deploying warehouse and logistics management applications.
Which Verticals are Committing to Mobile?
-44 percent of manufacturing companies and 35 percent of financial services companies are deploying field service and field sales professional applications.-48 percent of media and communications firms are deploying order tracking, management and fulfillment mobile applications and 46 percent use mobile field service or field sales applications.