Missed Opportunities In Mobility

[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php?id=1913993745&fp=2&fpid=1

"Resellers are missing out on extra revenue by not taking the McDonald's approach to marketing, according to the owner of Sydney-based Correct Solutions, Wayne Small. But rather than asking if customers also want fries, the HP and Microsoft reseller said his peers should be touting mobility devices."

Given the integration Pocket PCs have with Outlook, Office and especially Exchange 2003, is the mobile device product line prominent enough in the portfolios of companies reselling Microsoft products? I've talked to a few resellers over the years and mobile devices just don't show up on their radar as a product they understand the value of, which means they aren't really pushing it or even making their clients aware that is it much more than just a PDA.

[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php?id=1913993745&fp=2&fpid=1

"Resellers are missing out on extra revenue by not taking the McDonald's approach to marketing, according to the owner of Sydney-based Correct Solutions, Wayne Small. But rather than asking if customers also want fries, the HP and Microsoft reseller said his peers should be touting mobility devices."

Given the integration Pocket PCs have with Outlook, Office and especially Exchange 2003, is the mobile device product line prominent enough in the portfolios of companies reselling Microsoft products? I've talked to a few resellers over the years and mobile devices just don't show up on their radar as a product they understand the value of, which means they aren't really pushing it or even making their clients aware that is it much more than just a PDA.

[Paragon]

Awareness, or lack of, I think is a very important issue with Pocket PCs. It amazes me sometimes at how little effort is put behind making people ware of the benefits of using Pocket PCs. I had an idea that I ran by a couple of people recently that I thought would have a huge effect on awareness. While discussing the possibilities of offering better versions of Office apps like Pocket Excel and Word I suggested that if MS was to ever to "see the light" and do such a thing it would be a great idea to include those "Pro" versions as part of Office. Imagine if every box that went out the door for Office had a picture of a Pocket PC with a line saying "Take you Office documents with you wherever you go, on your Pocket PC."

Personally I think there are numerous cost efficient ways of increasing awareness of the platform.

Dave

[LeeFluff]

I was interested this year to see the "BUY THIS SUPERDUPER DESKTOP PC and GET A FREE POCKET PC" sales pitch.... intead of the free scanner / preinter / web cam / digital stills cam etc.

I think that with the integration to outlook, the multimedia aspects and all of those desireables, that a lot of positive marketting could be done by more of this approach.