Research firm Flurry, which provides analytics to mobile software developers, this week said that new iPhone OS application starts jumped 185 percent in January and February, compared to last August through December. “The January spike represented the single largest spike in Flurry history,” Peter Farago wrote in a blog post.

He added: “Historically, we’ve seen development spikes around new hardware announcements and releases including Motorola Droid for Android development and iPhone 3GS for iPhone OS development.  iPad appears to be having a similar, albeit amplified effect, which we attribute to the excitement generated by the impending launch of the device.

“A large proportion of the applications we are seeing are custom ports of existing applications tailored for the iPad. With over 140,000 applications in the App Store, developers who modify, or build from the ground up, their applications early on for the iPad may have the opportunity to establish an early presence on this new device and drive more downloads.”

Flurry’s latest update also looks at App Store development compared to Facebook, finding that the former boasted more than 140,000 apps in its first 18 months, compared to 60,000 for Facebook over the same time period. “We believe the difference in growth rates can be attributed to the App Store providing better monetization possibilities for application developers than Facebook did through its first 18 months,” Mr. Farago wrote. “Developers, like all rational companies, pursue markets where the path to revenue generation is clear.”