Five Reasons Why an iPad Beats Android for Your Business
Many businesses are dipping their toes in the tablet market. The portability and convenience of tablets are compelling for many businesses, especially ones that have a mobile workforce or interact 1:1 with customers. The question, of course, is which tablet to choose? The iPad is an obvious choice, but the rise of Android tablets looks promising as well. Recently, PC World's Angela West cataloged six reasons the iPad is still the right choice for your business. Here's the rundown:
It's still the "coolest." If your workforce interacts directly with customers, there's an undeniable cachet to slinging an iPad -- a cool factor that runs dry with Android tablets.
The app marketplace is still immature. The iPad has been around for about two years, while Android devices with a comparable screen size are quite new. That means there aren't many apps for Androids that take full advantage of the form factor. And catching up isn't easy; iPad apps need to be rewritten from the ground up for Android, so "porting" apps is a slow process.
Price/performance favors Apple. There's not much of a price difference between the iPad and comparable Android tablets, with the exception of Amazon's upcoming Fire -- but priced around $200, Fire can't come close to iPad's feature list.
Better interface. Let's be honest: Apple still has an edge in usability. Android's interface is busy, cluttered, and difficult to manage, which adds up to less efficiency and productivity. Your people might also get frustrated and stop using the new gadgets, falling back on their trusted laptops.
Better apps. A close cousin to the app marketplace argument, West contends that the iPad has a mature set of solid business apps, something Android can't yet claim. The iPad has enough solid tools to serve as a laptop replacement, and IT pros are already using tools like Citrix's Go ToManage to provide real-time remote support.
