Volunteers are being recruited for Aurora – WWN No. 24 (7469) of 02/09/2023

In 2022, the demand for app developers for the iOS and Android operating systems fell in Russia: according to hh.ru, the number of vacancies decreased by 20% and 19% compared to 2021, respectively. At the same time, the number of vacancies for developers under the Aurora OS increased by 1.5 times and by 9% for Kaspersky OS. Market participants attribute the situation to the transition of the public sector to domestic solutions and restrictions for Russian developers from Apple and Google. Experts believe that the trend may mean preparations for bringing domestic operating systems to the consumer market.

Kommersant got acquainted with hh.ru data on the number of vacancies for mobile developers. It follows from them that in 2022 the number of vacancies in the Russian Federation for iOS developers fell by 20%, to 15.6 thousand. In January, the decrease was already 40%, specify in hh.ru. According to Habr Career, in January the number of vacancies for iOS developers decreased by 19%.

A similar situation is developing in the Android development segment: at the end of 2022, the number of vacancies for developers fell by 19%, to 17.3 thousand, in January – by 36%. At the same time, on Habr Career, the number of vacancies for Android developers, on the contrary, increased by 18%.

In parallel, according to hh.ru, the number of vacancies for developers for Russian mobile operating systems is growing. So, for developers under the Aurora OS (developed by Rostelecom), the number of vacancies in 2022 increased by 53%, to 359 (according to the results of 2021, 235 vacancies were published). The number of vacancies for developers on Kaspersky OS grew by 9% year-on-year, to 6.1 thousand jobs.

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Google and Apple limited the ability for Russian app developers to accept payments on Google Play and the App Store. Applications of companies that fell under Western sanctions (for example, Sberbank, VTB, etc.) were removed from marketplaces.

Against this background, Russian software developers began to announce the launch of their own mobile operating systems on the market. For example, Kaspersky Lab is preparing to release a publicly available mobile system, Kaspersky OS, which currently only works with IoT systems. Also, STC IT ROSA and Astra Group spoke about their mobile systems, both operating systems run on Linux.

Rostelecom in the fall of 2022 offered the authorities to launch the creation of a national mobile ecosystem based on the Aurora OS. The project was estimated at 480 billion rubles, but in the end did not receive the support of the authorities. The Ministry of Digital Development considered it necessary to develop a new domestic mobile OS based on Android, involving the largest IT companies. Among the possible participants in the project, sources of Kommersant called Yandex, Sberbank, Rostelecom and VK (see Kommersant dated December 30, 2022). Aurora and Kaspersky OS declined to comment.

The growth of vacancies for the development of applications for domestic mobile operating systems is associated with restrictions from Google and Apple, Oleg Ivanov, head of the mobile development group at Reksoft, believes: “Some developers for these operating systems are beginning to be interested in Aurora.”

Dmitry Parshin, director of the Artezio mobile application development center, explains the dynamics of vacancies by “launching new projects and developing existing ones.” In his opinion, government and commercial orders for the development of applications for domestic operating systems contributed mainly to growth. Also, Mr. Parshin admits that the data indicate plans to bring such systems to the consumer segment: “Without software adaptation, the distribution of domestic operating systems will be difficult.”

However, the head of the mobile development department at IBS, Pavel Panchenko, doubts that the Russian operating systems being developed now will actually enter the consumer market. The situation may change with the advent of the Russian assembly of Android and analogues of Google mobile services, the expert clarifies. He believes that it is 2023 that will be “decisive in the formation of the Russian mobile landscape.”

Timofey Kornev