We recently announced a partnership with Appcelerator that includes Titanium support for our upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform, as well as an opportunity for developers to receive BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha, and Appcelerator Cloud Services (ACS) for free. How do you take advantage of this offer? Simple. Build a BlackBerry 10 app.

I recently walked out of a post deployment brief with stacks of flyers and brochures from government support organizations tucked in my purse.  My husband was due home from a six-month deployment and my fellow military spouses and I were bombarded with information on reintegration. Less than an hour later, I dug out the colorful handouts and gave them to my daughter who was desperate for collage project fodder. Needless to say, the brochures were never read.

With explosive popularity around the world, Anime has captured the heart and souls of millions of fans. Viewed on video and television series, video games, commericals, and all over the internet, Anime has now grabbed the attention of mobile developers looking to reach an even a larger audience.

Appcelerator/IDC Q3 2012 Mobile Developer Survey Reports Majority of Developers Believe Mobile Start-up Could Disrupt Facebook

World’s Largest Mobile Developer Survey Reveals Most Popular App Form Factors for 2015, Apple and iOS Dominance, and Ongoing Issues Developers Face Supporting Multiple Platforms. These are just a few key findings.

In conjunction with IDC, we are pleased to share results of a joint survey of more than 5,500 Appcelerator developers – the world’s largest mobile developer survey conducted to date. Findings reveal that a majority of developers believe a mobile-first social startup may disrupt Facebook. The report also states that developers predict they will be building mobile apps for form factors such as televisions, connected cars, game consoles, Google Glass, and foldable screens by 2015. Apple continues to reign as the platform of choice, while Android development remains in decline, and interest in developing for RIM sinks to an all-time low.

In our last few articles relating to our 2012 Mobile Developer Report– the largest such survey conducted to date – we discussed that while Apple iOS has built a lead over Android in terms of  enterprise leadership, Android's decline in terms of developer interest has recently been arrested. However the big two, iOS and Android, are not the only OSes holding their interest.  Microsoft is poised to become a player in the mobile app space as well.

A third of developers say they are "very interested" in developing for Windows 8 – a high number for a system that isn't yet commercially available. Many find the OS's Metro UI a compelling experience. In comparison to iOS and Android, 43.8% of developers give Metro positive marks for being pleasing to the eye and different. This gives Microsoft a real opportunity to encourage developers to provide new and differentiated app experiences based on Metro, and capitalize on this opportunity among developers.

The  continued erosion in developer dedication to Research in Motion's, Blackberry OS , also presents opportunities for Microsoft.  However the window of opportunity is short; developer interest in Windows Phone 7 devices has  already dropped sharply because of disappointing WP7 handset sales. One important way Microsoft can take advantage of this opening in the market would be to ease the path for developers to port their Android smartphone and iphone/iPad apps to Microsoft Windows based devices.

We can't predict for certain how successful Microsoft will be in its push to gain market share for Windows 8 devices. One thing seems clear, though - with iOS and Android both likely to retain significant market share, and Windows 8 poised to make inroads, the wisdom of choosing one OS exclusively seems doubtful. Companies should be marshaling resources to develop native apps on multiple platforms.

Download the Appcelerator Q2 2012 Mobile Developer Survey for more details about developer opinions and the future of mobile.

• Huge growth in Android device shipments, especially handsets, in developing markets.
• More affordable price points as compared to iOS devices, including Amazon's Android-based Kindle Fire.
• Merging of aligned Google properties; Android Market into Google Play (similar to Apple's tightly integrated App Store and iTunes).
• High profile launches of Samsung Galaxy devices, Huawei, and Sony Ericsson smartphones, all Android powered.

These developments are beginning to outweigh the steadily increasing fragmentation of the Android ecosystem and monetization challenges.

iOS's lead among enterprise focused developers, nor Androids return to higher interest levels, should not deter enterprises and developers from builiding for both operating systems.  As they develop apps for their customers and employees and plan future rollouts, a multi-operating system strategy will be required. It seems that both iOS and Android will retain significant market share (with Windows 8 poised to make inroads as well); companies should plan to develop native and mobile web apps for customers and employees on several platforms.

Download the Appcelerator Q2 2012 Mobile Developer Survey for more details about developer opinions and the future of mobile.

Since launching Appcelerator Cloud Services (ACS) in April, we've seen great excitement and adoption within our developer community. Innovative photo, video, chat, social networking, weather, and many other types of apps have been created utilizing ACS as their powerful, easy to use server backend!

In 2010, Queensland was hit with a 3-day flood that caused $30 billion worth of damages to the state and directly damaged the lives of more than 200,000 people. In times of disaster, people are more than willing to lend a helping hand. Nearly 120,000 volunteers helped throughout the month of January 2011 through Volunteering Queensland. However, the organization felt that the limited channels to recruit volunteers were insufficient to meet the needs created by such a disaster. Through collaboration with University of Queensland and Acclario, they produced the ReadyQLD application for the iPhone and Android to help the people of Queensland prepare for the worst.

Over the weekend Appcelerator celebrated a warm Sunday afternoon of fitness and health with mobile app developer David Murray for the beta launch of his built-on-Titanium app GoalSponsors, available now for free download through TestFlight. The event was held in Palo Alto, California at the Oshman Family JCC and featured several high-energy exercise demos and a variety of food and wellness vendors, including Whole Foods Market, Coco Libre Coconut Water, and NoXcuses Fitness. 

Alright UI/UX Designers, Guru’s and Mobile Mavens. Here is a quick list of the top five DON’Ts when designing a mobile app. While we all hear about what we MUST do to create the perfect app, we rarely hear the common pitfalls that ALL of us make from time to time. As a reminder to myself, I created the top five mistakes I try to avoid when designing apps for our clients.  As I have been told, this list is GOLD and should be bookmarked. [hint, hint]…. Come back, enjoy and certainly add to the conversation in the comments section.