Latest mobile dev trends: Facebook's mobile API & Javascript are hot; HTML5 & old web architecture are not
For mobile developers, a lot has changed in the past year. — Facebook has now swiftly become the most popular social service for devs to connect their apps to …
Context & Ripple Effects
The ranking marks a reversal from late 2011, when a GigaOM study found that for mobile in-app sharing Twitter topped Facebook three-to-one; two years on, Appcelerator's survey — picked up by TechCrunch, InfoWorld and eWeek within a day — shows Facebook as the social service developers connect to most. The pivot was set up in August 2012, when Facebook rebuilt its iOS app natively and abandoned HTML5, an admission that its earlier bet on the mobile web had cost it performance and engagement.
The same survey data shows the flip side of that lesson: HTML5 and legacy web architecture have fallen out of favor among mobile developers, even though Facebook itself spent early 2012 publishing guidance on improving the mobile web. With mobile growth having pushed Facebook to the No. 2 spot in US digital advertising, every app that plugs into its mobile API deepens the distribution base for that ad machine.
First-order effects
- Developers choosing a social SDK now default to Facebook's mobile API over Twitter's, converting what was a contested share battle into a default-integration advantage for Facebook.
- HTML5 loses its standing as a credible mobile development path in developer surveys, pushing teams building cross-platform apps toward JavaScript plus native toolchains instead.
Second-order effects
- Twitter must compete for developer mindshare against a rival whose API reach is now backed by the No. 2 US digital ad business, making integration deals and SDK ergonomics the new battleground rather than raw user counts.
- Facebook's developer ecosystem becomes a feedstock for its ads business — more connected apps mean more social signals and more inventory, feeding the rumored push into automatically-playing video ads in news feeds.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, mobile platforms consolidate around native SDKs and social-graph APIs, with the 'write once, run anywhere' HTML5 promise retreating to niches where native performance is not decisive.
- Developer-survey rankings become a leading indicator of ad-platform power: whoever owns app-level integration effectively taxes third-party app growth, a structure regulators and rivals both have reason to scrutinize.
The trend: Mobile development is consolidating around native SDKs and social-graph APIs like Facebook's, displacing HTML5 as the default cross-platform strategy.