Japanese developers turning their attention on the iPhone

The results of a new survey by middleware developer CRI reveals that Japanese developers are keen to turn their attention toward the iPhone, which doesn't have the same handhold in the region as it does in the UK, Europe and the US.

87 per cent of the 102 developers interviewed said they were interested in developing for Apple's platform, reports MobileEntertainment.biz. Eighteen per cent said they had already released applications for the iPhone and iPod touch, with another 16 per cent currently working on developments for the system.

The news wasn't so good for Palm, however, when the same cross section was asked about other smartphone platforms. Only six per cent said they were interested in Palm's WebOS, with 47 per cent keen on Android and 39 per cent looking toward Windows Mobile.

Those interested in the iPhone reported that the biggest drawbacks od developing for the platform were that applications have to be developed on Macs, and that the English base language for support was also an issue.