State of Utah goes iPhone!

The State of Utah has obviously one of the most forward looking governments in place. Just recently, they’ve released two applications in the AppStore: one providing users with access to the directory of departments and services of the State (Utah.app), and the other one called the Utah Professional License Lookup (I’m sure you can figure out for yourself what it does).

And while we’re glad to see governments embracing mobile technology, the question asked by many is whether this is the right thing to do in the current tough economic climate. Don’t get me wrong – I love the whole e-government idea, but is developing the iPhone application a real good use of taxpayers’ money? It’s hard to justify such an expenditure, especially when you consider that iPhone users are a minority. What about other platforms such as BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian — not to mention the mass market Java-enabled handsets. I don’t think a government should prefer one platform over other, especially when most users have simple phones, which can still run mobile Java.

On the other hand, as I said earlier, I love the idea of embracing mobile technology and in that sense I’m looking forward to see other governments following the example of State of Utah…

[Via: ReadWriteWeb]