Telecare Soapbox: Android or iPhone: Your business. Your life. Your decision.

[CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight]

Colleagues,

See excerpts of a useful analysis by MedTech-IQ member, Jeff Brandt  from the always informative Telecare Aware, an excellent source of specialized, free news and information since 2005 on telehealth ... Jeff is a founder of Communication Software, Inc.  and has experience in mobile telecomm, online banking, and healthcare information technology...

ENJOY!

CC

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The Apple iPhone, as you know, is built on the premise of two primary factors:  ease of use and a one vendor solution.  My definition of ease of use:  the reduction of complexity to reduce cognitive involvement ... The one vendor solution also reduces some of the problems of compatibility, e.g., apps for the iPhone are available only through the Apple iTunes website...

... Android to the contrary has built an open source operating system to run on many phones from many manufacturers.  Android is not a phone, it is an OS (Operating System).  Manufacturers may license the OS for any phone that they choose. They can also change or add to the OS as needed.  Android's premise is to allow developers to build apps to the specifications and needs of the end user/customer ... The developer may also choose where their apps are marketed and sold...

 

... Now for the pros and cons of both.

• First, both operating systems of Apple and Android are based on UNIX, an OS that was built at ATT/Bell Labs in 1969.  The primary difference is the interface for both developer and user (owner of phone) ...
  
• The iPhone user is locked into accruing software, hardware and even music from a single vendor and store, ...  A single manufacturer's hardware failure would leave an organization with few options ... With the Android solution you are not locked into a single manufacturer.   At the end of 2009 there were 18 devices to choose from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Android_devices.  
• Apple's “one size fits all” solution does provide some benefits. There are not as many issues with compatibility of devices or OS, ... Android apps can have problems with apps not running on all released OS versions from different manufacturers... 
  
• The Android user interface does take a few extra minutes to learn ... 
  
• The only other major consideration when choosing smartphones and mobile device solutions is that you must be concerned about the carrier selection ... The iPhone is only available on AT&T (in the US) at this time.   Redundancy and a single point of failure is an issue for mission critical systems.  Android is available on multiple carriers such as Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.

The iPhone and Android smartphones are basically both very good devices.   The user or the institutional IT leader must examine the pros and cons for their business or personal use...

Read on at: http://www.telecareaware.com/index.php/android-iphone-apple-google-...

ENJOY!

CC

[Edward E. Kensinger]

CC, et al,
From my perspective, both platforms provide a potential benefit to the end user. Some of my friends use their iPhones so much that I refer to them as being "iDdicted"!
I recently attended a conference that is focusing on the use of cellular devices for a select subset of society. Because of the proprietary nature of the iPhone; this OS/Hardware solution is not being considered. This group considers the open architecture offered by the Android OS as the only viable contender for this community. For typical consumers I think that either platform has specific benefits that only they can answer.
Thanks!
Ed

[Jeff Brandt]

I agree, That was my point. It depends on user/consumer and the applications that are available. The decision in the near future will be driven by the developers of the Applications. They will be the ones that have to decide which platform will support their application. They will have to also look at the demographics of the phone owners. If an application is what is needed by the user, they will purchase the phone that support it. This is one of the reasons carriers and phone manufacture are tying to woo developers to develop on their systems.

I just attended the OSCON OpenSource conference and someone was handing out "iBad, for your freedom" sticker. Sometimes it is a religion.

Jeff Brandt
www.comsi.com