Noting that the iPhone OS applications starts have undergone a whopping 185 percent increase ever since the January 27-unveiling of the Apple iPad tablet PC, analytics firm Flurry has revealed that the iPad is consistently stirring up the interest of the third-party developers, in the wake of the scheduled April 3 launch of the device.

Saying that the notable growth in the number of app starts can largely be attributed to the “excitement generated by the impending launch of iPad,” Flurry’s VP of marketing, Peter Farago, said in a March 15 official blog post: “Over six weeks since Apple announced the iPad, Flurry continues to measure a significant increase in iPhone OS new application starts within the system.”

Furthermore, the blog post marks delineates the “heritage” of iPhone and iPad app designers as follows - online-centric companies, which create 22 percent of iPhone apps; companies that have been founded with the specific aim of creating iPhone apps, creating 20 percent apps; conventional video-game makers, creating 19 percent apps; traditional media and bricks-and-mortar companies, creating 17 percent apps each; and mobile-centric companies, creating 5 percent of iPhone apps.

The escalating iPad-related interest of the developers can be justified on the basis that there have reported been ‘brisk’ pre-orders for the device. Analysts estimate that nearly 120,000 iPads were pre-ordered on the opening date March 12 - 50,000 of which were pre-ordered within the first two hours!