The IDC/Appcelerator report for Q4 2012 makes for interesting reading for those of us involved with Windows Phone. For most of 2012 developers have known that Windows Phone 8 was coming up, and that the SDK was simply not available. So to see a dip in the middle of the year around the numbers of 'develoeprs very interested in developing for each platform' but to have it return to the 35% mark (roughly where it was this time last year) is a good sign of developer interest. Hopefully that momentum can be continued into 2013 and new developers brought to the Windows Phone platform.

Developers who are 'very interested' in developing for each platform (IDC / Appcelerator)

Developers saying they are 'very interested' in iOS and Android development is still much higher that Windows Phone (89% for iPhone, 86% for iPad, 77% for Android Phones, and 64% for Android tablets), but 39% of developers plan to build cross platform apps for three or more operating systems.

In terms of trends to watch out for, developers expect to see more...

• Mobile enabled commerce.
• Purchasing and retail using NFC.
• Augmented reality becoming commonplace on smartphones.
  

The IDC/Appcelerator report is compiled through a survey of 2,837 Appcelerator Titanium developers between November 15 and November 26 2012, each of whom was invited to take part in the web based survey via the Appcelerator user database.