It's not just end users that are looking forward to the fruits of the Nokia-Microsoft partnership. Developers are confident about the deal too, so much so that they're more interested in writing apps for Windows Phone in future than for Apple's iOS platform. 

Microsoft: Nokia Windows Phone is key to success

The Developer Economics report has just been released, and reveals a wide range of interesting figures about the state of the various mobile platforms based on a suvey of around 900 developers conducted between January and April this year.

However, the chart that caught our eye in particular was the Developer Intentshare score – which details the platforms developers are planning to use in the future – regardless of which OS they're writing for now.

While Android takes a fairly predictable top spot with 35 per cent, the prospect of Windows Phone running on Nokia hardware has boosted the platform to second place on 32 per cent, comfortably beating all other comers, including Apple's iOS.

The figures simply back up the feeling Nokia has had all along – that the combination of Windows Phone and Nokia offers developers a profitable alternative to Android that will give their apps and games more exposure than iOS given the massive volume in the App Store.