Apple iPhone Apps vs Windows Mobile Apps

Let me confess at this point - I have bought an iPhone 4. Yes it does have a signal problem if you hold it in the wrong way ie perfectly normally. But the interface is wonderful and the display is to die for.

Previous to this I've had a number of Windows Mobile devices and before that Windows PDAs which worked very well. The revolution that Apple started was, for me anyway, in noticing that people prefer to use fingers, not styluses, to use their PDA/phones. Your finger's natural, it's always attached to the end of your hand, and your unlikely to drop it in the mud.

So I've be shopping on the Apple Apps Store to replace all those useful little programs I had on my Windows Mobile device. And I've noticed something fairly interesting. The apps on Windows are generally better. They have more functionality and they work very well - they're just fiddly to enter data into - lots of prodding with your stylus. The Apple Apps look better, are easier to enter data into, but they don't work as well. The under the covers functionality isn't there yet. This is hardly surprising, some of the Windows programs have been in development for over a decade now.

Does this worry me? No. I'm sure the Apple Apps will catch up, either by more development or by the existing Windows developers porting their apps to Apple. What strikes me as funny is Microsoft offering money to Apple Apps developers to port their apps to Windows (The Register). Guys, wake up - have a look at what you already have and play to your strength. Good quality apps with oodles of functionality that just need a GUI update.

BTW - no comment on Android as I can only afford one new phone at a time. Hopefully I'll play with Android at some point in the future.

Update 2018: Apple apps definitely caught up in terms of functionality, except strangely in terms of database apps. Seven years on, I've yet to find an iOS DB app that matches the raw DB functionality of the Windows Mobile DB Apps. Weird that.

“I think I have over 60 apps on my iPhone. I use six.” - Gordon Smith

Header image credit: JESHOOTS/Pixabay