Comparison of RIM Blackberry 4.0 and Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 with MSFP

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/7/7/f77a4fb4-a617-481d-a1e5-ef321b621aaf/MobileDevicePlatforms-ComparisonofRIMandWindowsMobile.pdf' target='_blank'>http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/7/7/f77a4fb4-a617-481d-a1e5-ef321b621aaf/MobileDevicePlatforms-ComparisonofRIMandWindowsMobile.pdf</a><br /><br /></div><i>"IT managers are increasingly being asked to provide mobile access to corporate email, business applications and other critical network resources. The cost of providing and supporting access to these resources is significant and IT managers should give careful consideration to the associated costs and capabilities before deploying an enterprise mobile solution. Wipro Technologies, a leader in the IT services and consulting industry, conducted a comparative lab based study of mobile platforms by benchmarking the Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) coupled with Exchange Server 2003 SP2 solution against the RIM Blackberry Handheld 4.0 and Blackberry Enterprise Server 4.0. Wipro conducted detailed testing of both environments in a simulated production environment and extrapolated the efforts and costs obtained from the lab environment to project the total cost of ownership (TCO) of managing each mobile platform in an enterprise production setting. To validate the lab data, Wipro also conducted interviews with enterprise organizations with large RIM Blackberry deployments."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-Jun06-RIMWM5.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />In this comparison sponsored by Microsoft, Wipro Technologies conducted a comprehensive lab based study of the mobile solutions offered by RIM and Microsoft. The results show that the Microsoft solution offers the following benefits: lower TCO, less infrastructure costs, lower support costs, tighter integration and larger application selection. RIM offers better user policy management and security, which in my mind are the two things that matter the most to corporations. Even though the report shows Microsoft in a favourable light, I think it still has some catching up to do. Another thing that worries me is that the TCO savings difference between the two decreases as the number of users increase. Didn't Microsoft suggest it to be the other way around? :? If you are evaluating mobile solutions for your IT department or are simply interested in understanding the pros and cons of the two systems then check out this report. [PDF file]

[Mike Temporale]

I used this report for a presentation I had to create a while ago. It's a pretty good report and very insightful. Worth the read if you're considering the switch or deciding what platform to go with.

[Stinger]

I hate biased "studies" like these. They're such a waste of time and very rarely give any real insight.

Remember all those TCO Windows vs. Linux reports that Micorosft used to buy? This the same thing, just with a different target.

[captainmicahp]

The real cost benefit comes to small business and individual users, blackberry service on cingular is more than 40 dollars a month, and you only get the blackberry web solution. while with Windows Mobile 5 the same service is only 20 dollars.

[Kris Kumar]

What I like about the report is that it lays out all the different criterion that an IT manager must evaluate and understand before selecting a solution. What works for one company may not work for the other. Some may value money, some may value security.

[Kris Kumar]

The real cost benefit comes to small business and individual users, blackberry service on cingular is more than 40 dollars a month, and you only get the blackberry web solution. while with Windows Mobile 5 the same service is only 20 dollars.

And that is what the TCO costs mentioned in this report seem to suggest. ;-)

Not sure if I got it wrong, but it seemed like based on the earlier reports, interviews, keynotes and analysis done by Microsoft, I was under the impression that the costs would come down as more and more users are added. I mean BlackBerry system will get progressively expensive as more users are added, because of per user licensing costs and hardware costs. I was wrong. :oops: