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Should local governments back the iPhone?
17 comments- TAGS:iPhone, iPhone apps, iphones
- IT TOPICS:E-Business & Web 2.0, Macintosh & Apple, Mobile & Wireless, Personal Technology
Boston will soon have an official iPhone app allowing residents to send photos of neighborhood nuisances to City Hall and request action, the Boston Globe reports this morning, "making the filing of complaints quicker and easier for iPhone users."
Cool, yes. But fair?
Everyone else out there with other smart phones will still be relegated to the telephone complaint hotline or a multi-page Web form.
Admit it, Apple fans: If a city paid $25K to develop an application that only worked on a Microsoft product -- one that required a hefty monthly fee to use -- would you think that was a great advance?
I'm all in favor of government using technology ease info sharing with the citizenry. But the government picking a closed platform that requires users to fork out hundreds of dollars annually to one specific company? Not so much, unless apps for other major platforms are also in the works. Otherwise, if you're an activist in Boston and you want the convenience of snap-'n-send photos to report problems in the city, you need to get an iPhone. ... even though BlackBerry is the current smartphone market leader. And the iPhone data plan may not be the most cost-effective for consumers compared to, say, the Palm's Pre.
Actually, the app was the idea of a city tech worker who uses a BlackBerry. But he told the Globe the city decided on an app for the iPhone "mostly because of its sex appeal -- because it's new and it's hot." That's fine if the goal is to serve a growing segment of the populace, but it seems more like trying to get a little reflected Apple cool. Which in itself is still OK -- but not when the outcome is encouraging residents to look into a specific (and costly) platform.
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