[WyattEarp]

Wow, I've been a subscriber since the 95LX days and have always loved their magazines. Unfortunately, I this situation was probably inevitable. Web sites like this for example always have the advantage of delivering information first; so by the time the next Smartphone & PocketPC Mage is released just about everthing in it is old news. It made and excellent reference mag and their busines solutions section was something no one else covered as completely as they did. I will miss it even though I stopped subscribing a year ago but I suspect they will return in an all new mag as they have done in the past.
Their really big issue is getting subscribers since most people who own smartphones don't know of the magazine much less take advantage of everything a smartphone can really do. If you take a poll on the street asking anyone who owns any type of smartphone you'd come to realize just how few of us there really are who use these devices as intended and beyond.

[WyattEarp]

Wow, I've been a subscriber since the 95LX days and have always loved their magazines. Unfortunately, I this situation was probably inevitable. Web sites like this for example always have the advantage of delivering information first; so by the time the next Smartphone & PocketPC Mage is released just about everthing in it is old news. It made and excellent reference mag and their busines solutions section was something no one else covered as completely as they did. I will miss it even though I stopped subscribing a year ago but I suspect they will return in an all new mag as they have done in the past.
Their really big issue is getting subscribers since most people who own smartphones don't know of the magazine much less take advantage of everything a smartphone can really do. If you take a poll on the street asking anyone who owns any type of smartphone you'd come to realize just how few of us there really are who use these devices as intended and beyond.

[rck]

I have been a long time subscriber to Smartphone & PocketPC. Recently, when the touch screen on my Windows Mobile phone died, this was the first place I turned to see which newer Windows Mobile phone model to buy next. Hopefully, this is only suspension of service and not truly the end.

[Mikey]

I traded several emails with Hal on how his magazine took a turn for the worse about 2-3 years ago. They dumbed down every magazine with pages & pages of the same entry level content. I did not renew my subscription after that correspondence with the editor. I must say I'm not surprised as I told Hal, his magazine went from writing to those that have been with Pocket PC's since the magazine was H/PC Magazine to attempting to write every article to a newbie. Sad, as it could've still been around had he stayed true to his original core reader. 1 issue per year dealing with catching a new person up on the lingo would have been fine, but every article??? Come on! I wish them the best as well as I was a BIG FAN until the recent years.

[Jason Dunn]

A sad day indeed. It's really a shame that the OEMs and Microsoft weren't backing the magazine to a greater extent. There's a large (and growing) segment of Windows Mobile users that aren't the type to read Web sites - I think of my father, who has a HTC S720, and I don't think he's ever installed an application on it. I put Windows Live Search on there and he was quite amazed at it - these are the types of users that a magazine can still reach. I think having a news-stand presence is still an important part of any brand, and it's a shame that the one and only Windows Mobile-focused magazine has vanished.

Why wasn't every OEM putting a small insert in the box for the magazine? Why weren't they buying advertising in the magazine?

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by blazingwolf

So they think the bread is buttered better by the iphone? Hmm, go figure.

From a newstand point of view, yeah, it is - practically everyone has heard of the iPhone, so there's instant brand recognition there. Windows Mobile? You're lucky if 1 in 100 people have any clue what that is.

[JamesM]

From a newstand point of view, yeah, it is - practically everyone has heard of the iPhone, so there's instant brand recognition there. Windows Mobile? You're lucky if 1 in 100 people have any clue what that is.

In fact, the last few issues seemed to be capitalizing on iPhone by cleverly placing it on the cover in some way or another.

A sad day indeed. I've been a subscriber since the Handheld PC Magazine days, and I'm sorry to see them go.
-James

[jadesse]

Not surprising because they are at least a month behind on the news.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by jadesse

Not surprising because they are at least a month behind on the news.

But does anyone read monthly publications for news? I sure don't - the magazines I read are read for in-depth coverage, the kind of detail you can't always get online.

[Gerard]

Originally Posted by Mikey

I must say I'm not surprised as I told Hal, his magazine went from writing to those that have been with Pocket PC's since the magazine was H/PC Magazine to attempting to write every article to a newbie. Sad, as it could've still been around had he stayed true to his original core reader.

My perspective is a little bit different on this front, though I come to a similar conclusion. When in the summer of 1999 I missed a few client's visits to my workshop - because I was out shopping or having a coffee and forgot their appointments - it became clear that I needed a 'reminder' sort of device. A daytimer wasn't doing the job, because if I failed to look at it often, appointments got forgotten. Something had to start making noises in my pocket, prompting me to look at messages so that I could stay on top of business (which admittedly isn't always the most fun thing to do).

So I started looking into the only such devices a non-computer-user knew about: Palm 'Pilot' handhelds. I had no computer experience, at all. Palm was out there, getting mentioned in popular media, so that was the place to start. Checking a few out at local shops left me somewhat impressed... but with a feeling that, so long as I was making the jump into the computing era, perhaps there was something more sophisticated available. No Pocket PCs were there yet, and the shops I visited didn't stock the Palm-size Compaq Aero or Casio E-105, so to learn more the only option available to me was through magazines.

I bought issues of Pen Computing and Pocket PC Magazine that winter and pretty much wore them out, memorizing every bit of information there, especially the more detailed technical articles. By early spring of 2000 I was completely decided, largely thanks to an article in PPC Magazine on the Casio E-115. I paid over $800 for that device, and it was every bit as wonderful as the magazine said it would be. The screen was amazing (indoors), the expandability via the CF slot very exciting (I bought a CF modem and a CF camera soon after, along with a whopping 64MB memory card!), and besides offering more than I'd imagined possible for business uses, the gaming was a complete hoot.

I owe my adoption of the Windows Mobile platform, and the 12 devices I've owned since 2000, to the pages of my Pocket PC Magazine subscription (which I let lapse before long, thanks to the more current information available on pocketpcpassion.com and brighthand.com at the time) where there was a lot of fluff, but a lot of solid technical information for a newbie like me. Spoonfed sales pitches were of no interest to me then. I wanted specs, critical comparisons, anything solid *not* written by OEM ad copy specialists. PPC Mag largely delivered, making this newbie's experience a good one.

And sure, I read magazines devoted to Palm... but frankly there didn't seem a lot in them, and over the 9 years since then there really hasn't been a lot happening with Palm compared to WM, so the choice seems to have been a good one. The sheer breadth of functionality offered in third party software for Windows Mobile has never been matched by Palm softwares, and the iPhone seems to be similarly limiting by design. Or not. Maybe it'll open up. It'll have to if that thing is to survive more than a few years as a fashion trend, then wind up in flea markets as a curiousity for $20.

Anyway, thanks long overdue Hal. Your magazine served me well all those years ago, and perhaps if the level of sophistication hadn't taken a back seat it'd be serving the same purpose to new users today.

[Ilium Software]

This is very sad - not just for Hal and his staff, but for the whole Windows Mobile market. This magazine was one of its big supports, and many people will miss it.

Looking back through my archives, the August issue had 26 advertisers. A random issue from 2004 had 52 and one from 2000 had 37. Microsoft advertised in some of these, not all of them, and the more recent issues had almost no hardware manufacturers, distributors or big companies advertising. The WM software companies did what we could to support the magazine, but, clearly, we're not enough to be able to keep it running.

Meanwhile, my latest issue of MacWorld had 81 advertisers, including big companies like CDW, MacMall, Western Digital and other very recognizable names. Apple's showing TV commercials specifically about the iPhone App Store and adding over 250 new titles each week.

Of course Hal's going to try an iPhone publication - who wouldn't, in those circumstances? If Microsoft cares about the future of Windows Mobile, at least as a consumer platform, they need to do something major - and soon - to support it.