Mobile App Developer Perceptions of Social Integration: Central User Engagement Strategy But Unsure of How to Fully Leverage Its Potential

This IDC study looks at the results of the Appcelerator/IDC 3Q2011 Mobile Developer Report, which in turn is based upon the July 11-13, 2011, survey of 2,012 global app developers using Appcelerator's Titanium platform. Social networking integration into mobile apps has become the rule rather than the exception, with developers reporting that over 80% of their apps currently under development will be integrated with social. However, developers are also expressing significant uncertainties in how to best integrate social into their apps and how to fully leverage the power of social through the social graph.

"The minds of mobile developers are still wide open to social — ranging from how best to integrate social to how to better leverage social to their enthusiasm for new social offerings like Google+," notes Scott Ellison, VP, Mobile and Consumer Connected Platforms. "The mobile app challenge going forward for social networking providers will be threefold: better engagement of developers, better education of developers, and the most effective leveraging of partnerships and assets as social competition in mobile apps shifts to the network effects social providers can offer."