BNN has asked me to participate in a televised debate pitting the merits of Apple’s iPhone against those of the Android Smartphone system. You can watch it live today at 12:15 pm during The Business News. Officially, honestly, and sincerely I like and recommend both, but that makes for poor television and so I’ve agreed to the fun and the sport of a biased debate, a pompous fight, the kind delivered with a wink and a smile that can hopefully help those looking for tips on which to choose.

What has brought this about is a recent report from the NPD Group, a respected industry research firm, showing that in the recent second quarter of this year there were more Android phones sold in the US than BlackBerry or iPhone devices. The numbers suggest that a healthy number of BlackBerry users have traded in their phones for Android, enough to have the two brands swap places in terms of market leadership. The trend suggests that it might be Android and iPhone that remain the top choices this year, eventually knocking BlackBerry down, and so the idea is to have a faux fight between the two to see just exactly why.

I’ve chosen to be the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robot for Apple’s iPhone. If cyborg thought-police kick down my down and demand that I only live with one smartphone for mobile eternity, then yes, it’s my personal preference. Here are my extreme reasons why:

The iPhone Is The Originator And Innovator

The modern smartphone as we know it is Apple’s invention. Touchscreens, multi-touch controls, visual voicemail, accelerometers, and apps are all innovations introduced to the market by Apple. Every competitor has had to copy, emulate, duplicate, reply, or answer to a combination of these features for their own products. So much so that it can be argued that most of today’s smartphones have more in common with each other than in difference, and the link is all Apple.

Apple’s position of influence, especially when you take into account their similar track record in computers and digital music, reflect that the company will remain a major player for years if not decades. The mobile industry is one where many brands come and go, where names like Palm and Nokia can quickly become replaced by RIM and Google. How can you be so sure that the new names will last when they’re so dependent on using innovations created by Apple?

The iPhone Is Designed For Everyone

Apple follows the philosophy of democratic design, of creating devices with everyone in mind. They take every feature and every system through a process where they slowly remove detail after detail, option after option until all they have left are the only options needed to make that feature work. The result is a simplicity, a flow, and a lack of clutter that makes it easier for users of all ages and backgrounds to pick up the phone and use it.

Android, by contrast, was designed to follow an open philosophy, of a device that anyone can create for. Unfortunately the world is not populated by programmers and developers and so the extra tools and options on the Android only add to the clutter and demand made on regular consumers.

Consistency And Reliability

Apple’s mobile success is based on one mobile design. It’s not about conformity, but about creating a standard from which all developers can work from and so guarantee a consistent and reliable experience. Those who create apps can take comfort in knowing that all iPhones have the same size screen, the same controls, and can run the same software updates.

Android phones vary in screen size and controls. Some have pinch-and-zoom touch controls, some don’t. Some have keyboards, some don’t. Some have trackballs, some don’t. An app designed for a 3” screen can appear to have a section chopped off when it’s displayed on an Android with a 4” screen.

When Apple issues a software update, all users can download it from iTunes, but when Google issues an update to their Android software, it’s up to local wireless carriers to approve and deliver it, often after a delay of months, in some cases never at all.

The Best Apps In The Industry

The real way we customize our phones today is with apps. With more than 225,000 apps in the iTunes Store, Apple has both the largest and widest selection on the market. Not only will you find a wealth of apps that are unavailable anywhere else, from games like Zombies Vs. Plants and Real Racing, to Comixology digital comic books, Rachel Ray recipes, and TomTom GPS navigation, but in those few cases where the same app is available on both phones, the iPhone version is always the one that’s best presented and with more features.

Although anyone can publish their app to the Android market, its catalog sits at just over 100,000 apps, and most so poorly written they aren’t worth your time. Android fans want their phones to be like their PCs, to have the freedom to install any software they like, but even programs for the PC have to go through a guideline process when their sold at retail through outlets like BestBuy or Staples.

Today’s mobile platform integrates the retail environment, something Apple understands in reviewing each app before adding it to their virtual shelves, but Google has overlooked this in creating a flea market-like free-for-all where porn apps and themes celebrating the hate iconography of the Nazis and Hitler and free to mix in with the educational apps for kids.

Of all the innovations Apple has introduced into the industry, the App Store is by far the competition has copied the poorest. On an iPhone the experience is simply and clear. There are apps of every kind imaginable. You download them, organize them, and run them. It’s simple.

On an Android phone there are widgets, web-apps, shortcuts to apps, and then the apps themselves which are not included on the home screens, but tucked away in their own separate library.

Android phones are confusing, complicated. They take time to learn and understand, time that the average consumer is simply intolerant of.

Consumers want a phone that “just works” that delivers all the features they need, but without making unnecessary demands. Of all the smartphones on the market today, the iPhone delivers that promise the most.

Disclaimer: Just a reminder. I could have just as easily written the above piece from the point of view of Android. I fully recommend Google’s platform and of the several different models widely available in Canada today, I recommend the HTC Desire as my favorite.