title: Determine device type from serial number / unique ID
body: <p>We have mobile applications on iPhone and Android (and soon to be released Blackberry).  The app functionality is the same - we just support several different devices.  The app communicates with a back-end web service to receive data.</p>
  
  <p>Now, in the web application, is there any way to easily determine what type of device is connecting to it?  Here's what I have available:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>serial number (or unique ID) of the device (note that in android simulator it's always <code>000000000000</code> and in iphone simulator the format is totally different from actual iphone)</p></li>
  <li><p>in iphone app, connections are made using <code>NSMutableUrlRequest / NSURLConnection</code>, in Android connections are made using <code>org.apache.http.client.HttpClient</code></p></li>
  <li><p>The server web app is written in PHP.</p></li>
  <li><p>I am willing to settle for a "best-guess" approximation: if I'm right 95% of the time, it's good enough for my purpose.</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I'm not sure about any of the blackberry stuff, because that app is still not ready.</p>
  
  <p>Any ideas/help are greatly appreciated.  Many thanks.</p>