Apple’s upcoming release of it’s Tablet has been attracting attention since it was first mentioned. Web application developers are ready to jump into the mix, with a recent survey projecting that 9 out of 10 developers surveyed are preparing to create applications for the new device.
Appcelerator recently conducted a survey of 550 developers, and 90% indicated that they are currently planning on developing applications for the Apple tablet in 2010, according to Scott Shwarzhoff, head of marketing at Appcelerator, who stated that “Developers are overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the tablet. I think there will be a lot of frenzy over the tablet, a lot of experimentation by developers.”
Apple hasn’t released many details about its upcoming tablet, but even so, it was the 3rd most popular development platform according to the survey, just behind other platforms such as the Apple iPhone and Google Android, but ahead of of the Blackberry and Palm Pre.
Developers seemed to be interested in developing many different types of applications for the Apple tablet, including business, entertainment, social networking and games, which interestingly enough, was the category least mentioned by developers. They tended to think of the Apple tablet as an intermediate device that falls somewhere between a mobile device and a desktop PC.
Among top features that developers are hoping for in the tablet, local data storage was the most anticipated. Multitouch applications and multitasking were also mentioned as desired features, with developers already considering social networking and local applications that would take advantage of these features. The hope is that Apple will be releasing a Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) along with, or soon after, the release of the tablet, which would allow software development companies to integrate those APIs into their products as soon as possible.
Appcelerator, for instance, already plans to announce support for the tablet in its Titanium development IDE in the very near future. Currently Titanium enables web developers to create applications for the iPhone, Android, PC, Mac and Linux platforms using a combination of basic web technologies such as JavaScript, HTML and CSS.