HTML5 Trumping iOS Among App Developers In Emerging Mobile Markets

Summary: Mobile app developers in many regions outside the US and Europe are choosing to develop apps in HTML5 rather than iOS but it's iOS that's earning devs the biggest bucks.

While Android and iOS are the platforms that will guarantee mobile developers an audience in the US and Europe, developers in much of the rest of the world favour HTML5 over iOS.

Among mobile app makers in South Asia, South America and the Middle East and Africa, HTML5 is the most popular platform after Android to develop for, according to a survey of more than 6,000 developers by the analyst house VisionMobile. Apple's iOS platform, used on the iPhone and iPad, is the third most popular OS among these mobile developers.

VisionMobile categorises HTML5 developers as those using web technologies such as HTML5, CSS and JavaScript to build browser and hybrid apps. Hybrid apps are those rendered inside a web view with a native software wrapper to allow them to control more of the phone's hardware and be sold through app stores.