Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Lead Threatened by Code-Conversion?

Like anything in tech, there can be a disruption waiting just around the corner as the next development renders mute something giving a business a competitive edge. That's the case with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) with its huge app lead, which in and of itself looks insurmountable, but could change swiftly if code-conversion is adopted more widely by developers.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said, the “continued dominance by the iOS and Android ecosystems.” Yet, “The most significant wildcard to this thesis is the potential emergence of code-conversion (common-runtime) tools that could deliver new apps to all major platforms at very little incremental cost to developers.”

Once other platforms scale enough to make it worth using code-conversion, it would largely eliminate a huge moat Apple now has with their iOS operating system.

If apps become a commodity, then the one of the major reasons for deciding on an Apple device is removed. That could be a major blow to the company if that happens, and it very easily could.

In a survey of top application developers, Sacconaghi found it takes what was called “45% incremental effort” to port an app from one operating system to another.

There's no doubt in the short-term that will remain a competitive advantage for Apple and devices run by Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android. But if code-conversion is widely adopted, it would quickly disappear.

Competitors would be smart to focus on not just wooing app developers, but marketing the benefits of using code-conversion as part of their development tools.