A big challenge for businesses and organizations is cost management, particularly in the current economic climate. Many companies are trying to maximise their budgets – one of the big factors pushing the BYOD trend. Where BYOD isn’t feasible, however, businesses may still have the need to support mobile professionals – and need to do so as cost effectively as possible.
Despite the common presumption that Apple solutions are more expensive, the iPhone offers companies unique advantages when it comes to keeping costs down – and those advantages aren’t likely to be found in Android devices.
These advantages boil down to Apple’s consistency in its products. With the exception of storage capacities and color, Apple only makes a single iPhone 4S model. That model may be locked to a specific carrier, but the hardware and OS is the same on every iPhone 4S in the world.
That consistency of iOS continues through other models like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS – no different skins from manufacturers and no customizations or apps installed by carriers. That’s a great feature for consumers, but it also offers two important cost management factors for companies that opt to be iPhone-specific.
First is the cost of internal app development. Obviously, any single platform is going to be easier to develop for than a mix of platforms. iOS’s consistency, however, means that all devices will be running the same OS (since carriers and manufacturers don’t interfere with the iOS development and release cycle). It also means the same or very similar hardware across devices. That cuts down on the time and expense needed to develop and test apps as well as to troubleshoot them. It can also increase app quality because developers don’t have to meet a lowest common denominator when it comes to the installed OS base as would be needed when it comes to Android.
Second, and less obvious, is that the freedom from carrier-specific models, skins, or features makes the iPhone very portable. A Verizon iPhone looks and functions the same as a Sprint iPhone. An AT&T iPhone in the U.S. looks and acts the same as a Rogers iPhone in Canada.
The advantage here isn’t just picking a preferred carrier – it allows businesses to cherry pick carriers for best costs and the greatest flexibility. For staff in a New York office, all carriers may be equal, but one might give a better business data plan. Staff in a midwest office, however, may need to choose a specific carrier in order to get coverage at their location. Both offices still get identical devices, the same internal apps, and the same managed security features thanks to the same mobile device management (MDM) vendor.
That flexibility comes at essentially no overhead and it becomes particularly attractive for companies that span multiple countries.
The one challenge is investigating the best options for plans between carriers for your usage. This can seem like a herculean task because it involves digging through useage and experience data and then negotiating with one or more carriers. The good news is that there are consulting companies out there that specialize in mobile and terrestrial cost management. Often these companies can in other services like choosing and implementing MDM solutions and developing a unified communications strategy.
Ryan Faas is a technology journalist and consultant living in upstate New York who has written extensively about Apple, business and enterprise IT, and the mobile industry. In addition to writing for Cult of Mac, he is a contributor to Computerworld, InformIT, and Peachpit Press. In a previous existence he was a healthcare IT director as well as a systems and network administrator. Follow Ryan on Twitter and Google +.
19 responses to “How The iPhone Saves Money For Businesses (And Why Android Can’t)”
Wrong.
Developing iOS means you have to buy Macs, which are 1000x more expensive to purchase and maintain. Then you also have to buy corporate licensing (if you go down that route), for large organizations this can cost upwards of thousands of dollars.
Android is free, as in FREE, as doesn’t cost a thing.
And don’t worry about different devices, you code for them. No big deal. Otherwise, just purchase the same models. And changing the API level target to another version of Android takes a whopping 6 seconds
I’ll keep going…
Android also allows for better flexibility within the OS itself, so your organization can configure specific security or networking settings. Android runs on Java, which is the most popular language to develop apps for. You can write apps in Linux, Windows, OS X, heck, even z/OS (you get the idea).
If you prefer iOS, fine – it’s a great mobile OS. But let’s not say it’s cheaper for businesses because frankly it isn’t
Wrong!
Mac’s don’t cost “1000x” times more then other systems. Maybe 10% more but they consistently last longer, have fewer problems i.e. cheaper to maintain. So in the long run they are a cheaper system.
Wrong!
You don’t have to have Macs for iOS development.
“Developing iOS means you have to buy Macs…”
Really?http://maniacdev.com/2010/01/i…
” But let’s not say it’s cheaper for businesses because frankly it isn’t”
Apparently it is.
” . . . Macs, which are 1000x more expensive to purchase and maintain.”
Where do these clowns come from?
Up front purchase and maintenance cost on my 3 yr old iMac so far. $2200 iMac + $200 8GB RAM + $7.50 OS-X Lion (1/4th of App cost) = 2407.50.
1/1000th of that is $2.41. Give me a Win7 computer that will cost me $2.41 and I’m switching to Windows in a heartbeat.
You are assuming that every reader knows what BYOD is.
“Android also allows for better flexibility within the OS itself, so your organization can configure specific security or networking settings …”
You are completely wrong here again.
Okay, I exaggerated. We can buy Win7 machines for work at $400 a piece.
That’s $1800 cheaper. $1800 * 850 employees = $1,530,000
How so?
You can download the source, update it yourself however you want, compile it, and now it’s yours.
So How was I wrong exactly Professor iSheep?
Whatever sacrifice(s) I need to make to have a $1800 iMac vs a $400 Win7 PC at work, I would make with out hesitation. And you are assuming a 400$ PC will last 3 years…hahahahahahahahahahaha
It’s not a matter of preference, I prefer a Mac over a PC any time.
But companies consider cost to be a bigger deal.
@ddevito:disqus
I think someone is a bit too obsessed with Android. This is Cult of Mac not Cult of Android.
Right, but what companies often over look or ignore is a products quality as it relates to cost. Money can be saved in other areas of business ops, think about how essential computers are to business, now why should the tech department not be given priority over other departments use of biz funds. Basically it all comes back around to mean that in the long run, Macs and their ecosystem cost less.
Edit: Directed at ddevito, but I see his comments flagged so it wouldn’t let me post.
This guy again claiming to be a developer but not understanding a thing about development.
The cost of the hardware (a Mac in this case) to do development is a very small piece of the entire cost of developing an App. What about the yearly salary cost to pay an in-house developer? That’s going to be your single biggest expense. It’s one of the reasons companies will spend extra for faster high-end PC’s as over time the number of hours of extra productivity (or reduction in wasted time) will easily offset the extra cost for the faster workstation.
And I call BS on changing to another level of Android in 6 seconds. If you write a very basic (meaning simple) App that uses the lowest comon denominator of features in Android then you can make an App that will run on any version.
So you simpletons writing these basic Apps can do what you claim, but people wanting to write more advanced Apps have to deal with the very real problem of differences in hardware & software from one device to another.
Directed to ddevito –
” Developing iOS means you have to buy Macs, which are 1000x more expensive to purchase and maintain.”Hahaha! Yeah, ok dude. Got an iMac that cost me $1500 which is not much more than other comparable machines and I have invested zero dollars into maintenance costs; no antivirus licensing renewal fees; no clean up or defrag software purchases; nothing. XCode is pennies on the dollar…. Please tell me you don’t seriously believe the shit you speak?
DDvito is the only virus my Mac has ever gotten.. Haha
As I always say, a Civic has four tires, a steering, wheel, CD player, A/C, etc. and probably costs about $15k. That doesn’t mean a Mercedes, that has all the same features, is overtly priced at over $60k.
You get what you pay for and Macs are made to last. I’m still using a 17″ MBP from 2008 and it runs Lion like a champ.
The difference between a job and a career. A car and automobile. A PC and a real computer.
To grow on your comment – my fiancee is using a 2008 15″ MBP and the only problem we have ever had was a battery replacement. Luckily Macs have safeguards to prevent batteries from frying the MB otherwise we would be in the market for another computer; a road I suspect we would have to travel if we didn’t own a Mac. Like you said, you get what you pay for.