If you are an Apple fanboy, you would probably say no.  If you are a Windows Mobile or Symbian fanboy, you would probably say yes.  My guess is if you are a developer, that answer is a lot harder to answer.

Since Apple released iPhone 2.0 and allowed native applications, the developers have jumped on board to develop 30,500 iPhone apps.  This is a huge win for Apple because developers can have a huge impact on a platform.  Of course…so far Apple has a total of 2 iPhone models and 2 iPod Touch models that all use the same screen resolution and features with pretty much the same hardware.  This means that iPhone developers have an advantage over most other smartphone platforms.

And what about a truly diverse platform?

Some Windows Mobile developers have to go just a little bit crazy because Windows Mobile is all about diversity.  You can tell this just because Microsoft can’t even decide on what to call their devices:

• Windows Phone – Microsoft recently announced that going forward, their new devices will just be called Windows Phones
• Windows Mobile Professional – touchscreen devices that can be used as a cell phone
• Windows Mobile Standard – non-touchscreen devices that can be used as a cell phone
• Windows Mobile Classic – Anyone remember before these things could be cell phones?  These are your normal touchscreen PDAs without the cell phone option.
• Pocket PC – the same as Windows Mobile Classic before the name change
• Smartphone – the same as Windows Mobile Standard before the name change

Which platform do you think would be easier to develop for?  As a developer, how much would this factor into trying to decide which platform you wanted to start developing applications on?

Most of the time, diversity is great for the customers because they get to choose a device that works best for them.  The problem comes in when a user buys a different device on the same technical platform with a different form factor and realizes that sometimes the software they had either no longer works or does not work the same.

On platforms like Windows Mobile, Symbian, and recently Blackberry, developers have to make a decision about whether or not they want to support all of the different versions and form factors.  These are all things new developers need to keep in mind when they are starting out in the mobile development game.

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