How To Approach Mobile Platform Evaluation

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

Hint — start with your business requirements.

A decade ago, companies deploying mobile solutions for their field employees typically had to work with one operating system: Windows or some iteration of its mobile OS. Now you have options. Android and Apple iOS dominate the mobile phone market and have begun eating into Microsoft’s share of the enterprise-class device market. Each of the three major mobile platforms has its own pros and cons, so selecting a platform is not as straightforward as it once was.

There are a number of companies that have deployed both iPhones and iPads for field service applications. iOS does provide an appealing and consistent user experience, a large developer base, a good device upgrade path, and a large amount of software. However, device selection is limited, Apple devices don’t provide the type of hot-swappable/ replaceable batteries needed for many field solutions, and its app store requirements are more strict than other platforms.