The Yankee Group has published a report on how developers should elect to choose between the iPhones and Android platforms. The key lies in understanding the ecosystem strategies.

Carl Howe’s August 13 report, "How Developers Should Choose Between iPhones and Androids," is aimed at CIOs, IT Mangagers and software developers. In it, he explained that one can expect "Apple to attract more business software developers, while Android will become the favorite platform of phone manufacturers."

Mr. Howe pointed out that Apple’s system provides for lower development and distribution costs. "Apple’s distribution and promotion through its App Store will dwarf anything most developers could achieve on their own. With lower development costs, better distribution and Kleiner Perkins’ $100 million venture fund ready to trade cash for success, money - not features - will drive developers to the iPhone platform, despite Apple’s restrictions and a 30% cut of application revenue."

On the other hand, most of the phone-function software developers will focus on Android because Google provides Android under a free open source software license. Mobile phone manufacturers will save money there, but because Android is designed to run on a wide variety of handsets, development and support costs will increase.

"With no centralized distribution or marketing portal, only software developers really wanting to push the envelope on handset design and user interfaces will jump on the Android bandwagon," Mr. Howe noted.

The report, which includes a detailed chart of the technical and business differences between the two platforms, analysis of the different directions of the two platforms and recommendations for mobile phone developers is available from the Yankee Group.