It may be a sign of the times, but it looks as though there are people who are really considering making the switch from the mighty iPhone to the Android mobile phone platform. That’s not to say there aren’t a lot of people doing the opposite too, it’s just that prior to the rather lacklustre iPhone 5 launch, people wouldn’t openly discuss such a move, at least not with a straight face.

Over the past weeks, I’ve had a couple of staunch iPhone user friends come up and admit that they were thinking about switching to the jolly green robot, so it’s probably fair to say that things may have changed.

Which is why it is interesting to see this article from Infoworld, entitled How to Switch from the iPhone to Android. Coming from a mainstream tech publication makes this more of a big deal that it might otherwise be, although at the end of the day, the conclusion is that making the switch may mean you lose more than you gain in the short term, especially if you have a heavy investment in the whole Apple ecosystem.

If you’re just using an iPhone, then the transition will probably be relatively easy, after all an icon’s an icon, and once you’ve tried one app, another one works in much the same way. However, throw in the seamless integration of your iTunes library, iCloud and your Mac computers and you’re going to take some time to adjust to the clumsier and less sophisticated Android alternatives.

In some cases, as with iMovie or AirPlay there aren’t even any alternatives worth talking about, so you’ll just have to make do without. So why switch? It’s not simply a matter of bigger screens, or more choice of service operators, it really comes down to choice in general. More manufacturers, more customization, more freedom to do what you want with your handset, especially with things like loading on your own choice of operating system if you don’t like the one your service provider gives you.

Anyway, Infoworld is not the only publication to mention the possibility of switching. Just in the past few months, we’ve seen PCMag, Know Your Cell and even the venerable Business Insider have all jumped on the bandwagon.

These issues of choice are considerations that more people are starting to make, especially as the hardware platforms start to reach equilibrium in terms of functions, features and specifications. Anyway, choice is always a good thing, for the consumers and the market as a whole, and while there are always going to be the religious nutcases on either side of the wall, for most of us it’s really just a phone, and so each to their own.