The most pressing concern for developers surveyed by Appcelerator is skill fragmentation--that is, the ability to build programs using different developing tools and languages. That's followed by fragmented OS capabilities--different mobile operating systems support different features--and then Android fragmentation. Developers are also concerned by the demands of developing for different devices (such as phones versus tablets) and building and support more than one app.

Appcelerator also found a disparity between interest in Android in general and enthusiasm for specific hardware. While 71 percent of the developers surveyed expressed an interest in building apps for an Android tablet, only 52 percent described themselves as very interested in the . That was the only Android tablet to top the 50 percent mark--just 44 percent said they were very interested in the , while 31 percent expressed an interest in the yet-to-be-released HTC Flyer.

"You could certainly draw the conclusion that the hardware is a significant drag factor in the interest toward Android development," said Schwarzhoff, adding that the initial high prices of Android tablets could be behind some of that diminished enthusiasm. It will be interesting to see if that changes as .

If the results of the Appcelerator survey were a disappointment to Google, they're downright depressing to both Microsoft and Research in motion. Interest in developing for the Windows Phone 7 platform fell seven percentage points from last quarter's survey to 29 percent. That was still good enough to land Windows Phone 7 in third place, as the Blackberry phone fell even further--interest dipped 11 percentage points to 27 percent.

The decline in interest among those platforms seems less about features and capabilities, Schwarzhoff noted. "Developers don't have the resources to devote to a third [mobile] OS," he added.