epb said:I've no experience with Android devices, but it seems to me that they would match it for function and customization - they just don't have the same market share.
Custom apps and such are nice, but the crux of the matter for us is the iOS itself. What we're looking for is a way to assign admin rights that prevent users from altering the set-up once it's installed. For example, as an organization we want a more complex password setup than the default 4-digit one iOS has, and we want users unable to revert to the weaker scheme. We would also want to pretty much disable or remove iTunes - no downloading movies, music, and especially apps. It would essentially have a web browser, a custom remote login app for our systems, the e-mail client and something akin to MS Office like Apple's Keynote, Numbers, etc. From what I'm hearing, this pretty much isn't do-able. The real money in iPads isn't selling the devices but the revenue stream the device opens up direct to Apple, and iOS is configured to facilitate that, not inhibit it; there's no way to close off the device.
What's currently available is that you have to leave the front door unlocked, but you can lock the door to some of the rooms once people are in (in-app security rather than OS security). When you're talking about access to customer personal and financial data, that's not seen as good enough from our perspective.
You guys will soon be able to use a windows based tablet. I hope iOS never changes to accommodate the kind of use you are suggesting.