In the US House of Representatives, iPhone is the Device of Choice

With the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C now in play, NBC took a bit of a question to the U.S. House of Representatives to see just what kind of devices our elected officials stood behind for everyday use. While the results may not surprise some—and may surprise others—the common thread is that, for the halls of representative government, the device of choice is the iPhone, and by a wide margin.

The NBC poll—taken over the course of two weeks and getting responses from fully 88 percent of members—showed that, for the U.S. House of Representatives, the iPhone was the biggest game in town at 58 percent. BlackBerry came in at 23 percent to take second place, and bringing up the rear was the Android platform, which accounted for a tiny four percent of representatives. As it turns out, party lines don't seem to make much of a difference, as both prefer the iPhone, but Republicans seem to prefer iOS just a bit and Democrats, oddly enough, prefer BlackBerry devices just a bit.

The clear lack of favor for Android in the House is somewhat unusual, given the sheer amount of market penetration that Android has among regular users. However, there are likely questions involving security that may give Android something of a handicap when used in Congress, as well as the issues of Congressional demographics, particularly the overall affluence of Congressional office holders. But Android may have a chance to catch up, given the overall decline of the BlackBerry brand in recent years.

It is odd that Android hasn't made more of an impact, especially given how widely used Android devices are among the regular sectors of the United States' population. But there are some possible explanations that can contribute to such a phenomenon, and several of said explanations can be in play at the same time, producing the total result. It certainly doesn't hurt that Apple is found at several levels of government operation outside of Congress, so it's also possible that some of that word of mouth—particularly if it's positive word of mouth—gets around and influences buying decisions made by the representatives in question. The Pentagon's switch from BlackBerry to Apple and Android just under a year ago is just one example of the moves in question.

Either way, though, Android has its work quite clearly cut out for it if it wants to be the next big thing when it comes to the halls of lawmaking in the United States. It may have the opportunity it needs in the coming weeks with BlackBerry's retraction, but it's still going to have to put its best face forward to draw interest.