LONDON, September 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Report shows Qt application development community is growing, robust and ready to extend into mobile app development and become a catalyst for explosive growth in Internet connected devices

A new global study of the Qt developer community by Quadriga Consulting reveals a strong, broad-spectrum community that is planning to extend its reach into mobile and machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.

Qt is a software development framework used to create desktop, mobile and embedded applications. Qt developers surveyed as part of the Qt Insights program create applications targeting businesses, consumers and in-house business use.

The Qt Insights study included a survey of nearly 2,000 developers in over 90 countries as well as discussion panels and developer interviews. Respondents claimed high levels of satisfaction with the framework. Moreover the survey data indicates that Qt adoption is growing with around 10% of users adopting the framework in the last 12 months.

Kevin Franklin, one of the authors, commented, "The Qt developer community spans a broad spectrum of companies from well-known corporates to small companies and individual developers. The framework enables them to target the widest range of device types and operating systems. Developers told us they achieved productivity gains through time savings in coding and prototyping, and are able create applications with the highest levels of performance. Availability of good documentation, support, and an active, growing community means that applications are being produced in abundance. Qt developers target a broad spectrum of sectors including media & entertainment, defence & aerospace, and academic research."

Jeffrey Peel, who jointly led the Qt Insights project, said, "Qt developers will continue to create desktop applications across Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. But this multi-platform mentality means that Qt developers are increasingly moving beyond the desktop or embedded systems into mobile."

He continued, "Although Qt is not widely used to develop consumer apps for smartphones, there are signs that mobile developers are choosing Qt to expand their user base by targeting mobile devices and platforms. Qt's imminent support for Android and iOS will accelerate this trend. Use of Qt to develop applications for embedded Linux systems - for example in the automotive and medical industries - continues to be a strong use-case. But the explosive growth in Internet-connected devices means Qt could be a key catalyst for the creation of the Internet of Things."

The 2013 Global Qt Insights Report is available to download free of charge from http://www.qtinsights.com.

Notes for Editors

Qt is used to develop applications for a wide range of operating systems on a variety of devices including conventional desktop & laptop computers, tablets, smartphones and on embedded systems. It can be used to develop rich UIs and also to create non-UI applications such as file handling, database access, thread management and network support.

Qt is a mature technology first available in 1994 and has been developed and refined by companies such as Nokia and a large open source developer community. It is available for use under a commercial license and also to download under an open source license.

The Qt Insights Global report (September 2013) is now available for free download and is published under a Creative Commons license.

Qt insights conducted a global survey in June 2013 that was fully completed by 1,862 Qt developers in 93 different countries. These included application developers, project managers and decision makers. In addition, qualitative research was conducted including discussion groups in North America and Europe. Highlights are published at http://www.qtinsights.com.

Qt Insights is sponsored by BlackBerry, Digia, KDAB, ICS, basysKom, Pelagicore, VCreate Logic, and is in partnership with KDE e.V.

Qt Insights is a Community Thought Partnership project by Quadriga Consulting Ltd, providing independent evidence-based consulting to technology companies for nearly 12 years. Further information about Quadriga Consulting is available at http://www.quadco.co.uk.

SOURCE Quadriga Consulting