Demand for iPhone apps passes Facebook

SAN MATEO, USA: oDesk, the leading marketplace for online workteams, announced that demand for Apple iPhone programmers has surpassed demand for Facebook developers.

iPhone application development jobs now outnumber Facebook jobs by a 5-3 ratio, and iPhone job growth is accelerating more quickly.

In January 2009, an all-time high of 217 jobs for iPhone app development were posted on oDesk. In comparison, Facebook app jobs, which rose swiftly at the beginning of 2008, peaked at just 159 jobs in January '09.

There are 1,246 Facebook developers on oDesk, and 561 iPhone programmers, the company revealed.

Facebook and iPhone are very different platforms, using different technologies and business models. Facebook apps are free and depend largely on advertising and viral pass-along for revenue. iPhone apps are free or very low in price and can be browsed and easily purchased and downloaded at Apple's iTunes App Store.

Facebook had a big head start, launching its third-party application development program in May 2007, 10 months before Apple announced the iPhone SDK last March. But by May 2008, a sharp, prolonged rise in demand for iPhone apps began, and iPhone soon overtook Facebook's lead. Facebook's huge existing user base of 175 million makes this milestone even more impressive.

"Given how rapidly Facebook application development between entrepreneurs and developers gained traction on oDesk makes the surging demand for iPhone application development even more impressive," said oDesk CEO Gary Swart.

Industry analysts, prospective oDesk customers, and working press are welcome to visit oDesk's freelance skill trends pages for more data on iPhone, Facebook, and more than 40 other skills & platforms. The oConomy is another such resource, which summarizes oDesk's outsourcing statistics. The oDesk blog provides commentary & analysis on findings from these sources, as well as outsourcing and freelancing tips.