Developers Like Google's Location-Based Tools April 25, 2006

location based services

Still, Google's share is only 20%, meaning the market is still fragmented and leadership is still "up for grabs," Evans Data says.

By W. David Gardner
TechWeb.com

Apr 25, 2006 06:17 PM

In a worldwide survey of wireless developer tools for location-based applications, the Evans Data Corporation found that Google's tools were used by nearly 1 of 5 software developers.

In the second position of location-based tool sets usage was the generic open source software category with just under 10 percent of developers using them as their first choice. Runners up in a virtual tie were Yahoo, Microsoft MapPoint and Nokia, Evans Data said.

"The coupling of the physical world with the data world represents a challenging new frontier," said John Andrews, president and COO, of Evans Data, in a statement. "These results in our survey express tremendous opportunity for these tools, with the market still fragmented and market share still up for grabs in this rapidly growing segment."

Evans Data, which surveys global developers, said it polled 500 wireless developers in the study.