Besides the design of your app, you also need to know which smartphone OS platform you want to integrate your app into. With so many on the market, it can be quite confusing.
The market currently has the iOS, the growing Android market, the Blackberry and Windows market. The logical choice would be to select the largest market. That would be the iOS, followed closely by Android with Blackberry and Windows having small shares. Recent market surveys show that the Android has taken over the top spot with iOS second and Windows a close third.
How to choose an OS
1. Target Audience
If the app’s functionality is geared towards certain target groups like healthcare, law or financial services, then Blackberry and Windows are the logical choice as they have great penetration into these markets. However, these 2 segments are a drop in the ocean when compared to iOS and Android.
According to MLSDev, platforms also vary widely by region. So, if you decide to focus on Europe, bear in mind the fact that the majority of Europeans prefer Android devices to iPhones. Americans use both, while in Asia the situation may differ from country to country. 
[Source: mlsdev.com]
2. Additional Costs
If the cost of creating the app for a specific platform is an issue then the Android platform is the logical choice. It is also the growing trend to develop apps for the Android platform.
To submit an app into an app store, you will need to buy a developer account. Google Play charges $25 for this service, whereas Apple is more expensive as it charges you $100 for a developer account and $299 for the Enterprise Program. If you want to develop hybrid mobile apps, you will need to pay to every market you plan to get published in.
3. Development Process
When it comes to the actual development process, there are some who insist Android has the best development tools, database access and multitouch capability.
Some others point to Apple’s emphasis on speed and reduced battery consumption, which means working without the bells and whistles of java or .net.
It is difficult to develop a corporate app [for iOS] that leverages external xml-based data repositories due to its lack of xml parsing. This means that it will take longer to write an app for iOS than it will for Android or Windows. Longer programming time means more costs.
Besides the target audience, additional costs and development process, there are other factors worth noting such as how fast you want to get the app on the market and the features of the app.
At the end of the day, the platform of choice depends on you and your preferences, but I hope that this article gave you helpful pointers in deciding which OS platform to use.
