One-quarter of application developers surveyed by IDC and Appcelerator indicated that Google’s social network platform, Google+, would have the most impact on mobile growth and adoption.
The results reflect Google’s influence and its potential to create genuine competition for Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook.
Appcelerator – a company that helps Web developers create mobile, tablet and desktop apps – and market research firm IDC surveyed 2,012 Appcelerator Titanium developers on their perceptions regarding mobile operating system priorities, Google and Apple’s move into the mobile cloud and application developer needs.
One interesting find: two-thirds of respondents believe Google can catch up to Facebook in social media with Google+. Nearly half (49 percent) of respondents said Google demonstrated more innovation than Facebook with such features as “circles," “sparks" and “hangouts."
Still, 83 percent of developers using social media in their apps say they use or are planning to use Facebook this year. Twitter ranked No. 2 (73 percent), followed by Google+ (72 percent) (when the API is released), LinkedIn (30 percent) and Foursquare (23 percent).
