I'm a long-time fan of Apple products. I've owned Macs for 20 years and an iPhone for the last 2. I also own a Motorola Droid, and a Google Nexus One phone.

Over the years I've seen a lot of people convert to Mac, and even more convert to the iPhone.

I've also watched as bloggers and the tech media drank concentrated Apple Kool Aid by the gallon in the last 2 years.

These guys, along with the legions of Apple "fans", seem to have lost most measures of objectivity about the the iPhone and the iPad.

So I thought I'd give  business owners and managers trying to decide whether to buy iPhones or Android phones some of the major reasons to go with each of the platforms.

Reasons to love Android:

• Choice of telecom providers: Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint. Some are fast and have high coverage, some are cheap, some are superfast within urban areas.
• Choice of devices: you have high end phones (HTC Incredible, DROID X, Nexus 1) and cheap phones, phones with keyboard,  and flip-phones.
• When you combine different providers and different devices, you get an overall lower bill.
• The Gmail app is an awesome email client (search, labels, drafts, push email)... especially if you run on Google Apps.
• When you're trying to go somewhere in the car, the Google Maps Navigation does a fantastic job of getting you there while keeping your eyes on the road.
• It has lovely speech recognition that actually works! ("Directions to Orlando Airport", "Call Olga Mobile"...)
• The battery lasts throughout the day. If you need more power, you can actually carry a spare battery and swap it.
• For many devices, the speakerphone is loud and clear.
• You don't ever need to plug it into a computer to get podcasts, update your applications or sync (pictures and videos are the exception).

Reasons to love iPhone:

• It has some great applications. I can't live without OmniFocus. Other friends I know swear by WhatsApp and LinkedIn for iPhone.
• It has a better video and still photo camera, and the quality of the pictures is superior.
• It has a superior web browser experience (but with the combined search/URL field of Android it is starting to feel outdated).
• If you are a Mac user, it's easier to manage your photos and music as long as you've bought it at Apple.
• If you travel internationally, at least you will get a signal (but you will pay through the nose unless you unlock your phone and get a 3rd party SIM).
• When it comes to having some fun, the iPhone offers more gaming choices.
• The operating system is more mature .. this means less reboots, and less applications crashing or slowing down your phone.

I hope I was able to stay away from the hype and focus on things that make a real difference.  By all means, I'd love to hear how other business owners or managers made the choice between the two.  Please comment below.