The Competition Is Not Sitting Idle

[Kris Kumar]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040909/ap_on_hi_te/smart_phones

"The smart phone market will grow more crowded Wednesday with the debut of two devices directed at opposite ends of the customer spectrum: a BlackBerry for consumers with a newfangled keyboard and a Nokia phone-organizer for mobile business professionals. Both handsets, designed to feel more like a cell phone than a handheld computer, will compete with about two dozen other smart phones that run on advanced operating systems such as Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm."



I love competition. Competition motivates me to improve my skills and challenges me to exceed expectation. Microsoft Smartphone is being challenged by two worthy competitors; the redesigned, slimmer, lighter Nokia 9300 and BlackBerry 7100. During the last few days we have seen some awesome Microsoft Smartphones being announced. And now it is the competitors turn to show off. Good to see all these product announcements. The winner in this product warfare will be the consumer. We will not only get better choices but also good prices. Out of the three: BlackBerry, Microsoft and Nokia, who do you think will be the favourite?

[Kris Kumar]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20040909/ap_on_hi_te/smart_phones

"The smart phone market will grow more crowded Wednesday with the debut of two devices directed at opposite ends of the customer spectrum: a BlackBerry for consumers with a newfangled keyboard and a Nokia phone-organizer for mobile business professionals. Both handsets, designed to feel more like a cell phone than a handheld computer, will compete with about two dozen other smart phones that run on advanced operating systems such as Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm."



I love competition. Competition motivates me to improve my skills and challenges me to exceed expectation. Microsoft Smartphone is being challenged by two worthy competitors; the redesigned, slimmer, lighter Nokia 9300 and BlackBerry 7100. During the last few days we have seen some awesome Microsoft Smartphones being announced. And now it is the competitors turn to show off. Good to see all these product announcements. The winner in this product warfare will be the consumer. We will not only get better choices but also good prices. Out of the three: BlackBerry, Microsoft and Nokia, who do you think will be the favourite?

[Kris Kumar]

BlackBerry's SureType is an innovative keypad design. They have combined the QWERTY and T9 elements together. I am a big QWERTY fan and a equally big T9 fan. But to this date I find it cumbersome to locate an alphabet on my phone's keypad. SureType is the answer to my dilemma.

And Nokia's not-a-brick-anymore 9300 supports EDGE. I feel EDGE support should be standard on all Smartphones. Hopefully all the 2005 Smartphones will have it.

[Ben]

Originally Posted by Kris Kumar

BlackBerry's SureType is an innovative keypad design. They have combined the QWERTY and T9 elements together.

Has anyone actually used the SureType? It really looks great to me. I carry both a blackberry and a smartphone because I hate to email on the smartphone, but hate to talk on the blackberry. (Plus the blackberry is pretty bulky and doesn't play music or many games, not to mention books, videos, edit word, excel, powerpoint, pdf, and other documents). I have examined a number of different keyboard innovations and considered several different solutions of my own (including my own keyboard designs and sending all of my messages in hawaiian, since that language only needs 12 keys anyway). I have longed for a keyboard that intuitively allows me quickly draft emails and letters without being as bulky and cumbersome as most qwerty thumbpads. I had concluded that a detachable qwerty thumbpad would be the best I could ever hope for, but maybe SureType is the solution. Now if they will just combine all of the great features into one device (the push technology, SureType, mp3 and wma, mpeg and wmv, .NET and java games, speakerphones, expandable memory (one of blackberries greatest flaws), digital camera and GPS, bluetooth and Wi-Fi) all in a clamshell, we will finally have a perfect device!

8)

[Mike Temporale]

SureType does look interesting, however I want to reserve judgment until I can actually see and play with it. I want to see how well it handles words that it doesn't know.

Everyday I see more and more people carrying a BlackBerry. Microsoft has to get a move on if they have any hopes of catching up. The BlackBerry's only redeeming factor, IMHO, is the push email. Without push/always on email, Microsoft devices (PPC, PPCPE, or SP) will have a hard time competing with professionals. If Motorola could just manage to get the MPx220 out the door....

[Philip Colmer]

Originally Posted by Mike Temporale

Microsoft has to get a move on if they have any hopes of catching up. The BlackBerry's only redeeming factor, IMHO, is the push email. Without push/always on email, Microsoft devices (PPC, PPCPE, or SP) will have a hard time competing with professionals.

This might be something that I need to ask on PPCT instead of here, but doesn't a Smartphone or a PPCPE used in conjunction with Exchange 2003 have push email?

(Well, to be more precise, my understanding is that Exchange 2003 sends an SMS to the device telling it to synchronise, but then my understanding may be wrong).

Or to put it another way, if I want staff to be able to access email remotely, which is the best solution: Blackberry or SP/PPCPE?

Regards

Philip

[Mike Temporale]

Exchange 2003 can be setup to send a "specially formated" SMS message to a Windows Mobile based device that tells the device to connect and sync. So, it's not really push/always-on email. it's more of a backend hack, IMHO.

If you're interested, check out this post for more information on how it works.

As for your question regarding the best method to have staff check email remotely; it all depends on what your current environment is, and what technology your company has already invested in.

[Philip Colmer]

Originally Posted by Mike Temporale

As for your question regarding the best method to have staff check email remotely; it all depends on what your current environment is, and what technology your company has already invested in.

We've currently got Exchange 2003 but not a lot beyond that. I currently use a Pocket PC in conjunction with GPRS & Bluetooth on my mobile in order to allow me to sync via OMA, but that is a manual process.

Having read the explanation of AUTD, I think I might have trouble finding an appropriate SMTP to SMS gateway. Looks like BlackBerry might get another customer ...

--Philip

[Kris Kumar]

Originally Posted by Philip Colmer

This might be something that I need to ask on PPCT instead of here, but doesn't a Smartphone or a PPCPE used in conjunction with Exchange 2003 have push email?

(Well, to be more precise, my understanding is that Exchange 2003 sends an SMS to the device telling it to synchronise, but then my understanding may be wrong).

Or to put it another way, if I want staff to be able to access email remotely, which is the best solution: Blackberry or SP/PPCPE?

Regards

Philip

Exchange does support the (push based) E-Mail sync. The way you described is how it works.

The issue is that most corporations have adopted the BB Enterprise Server, instead of enabling Exchange server for mobile access. The corporations trust BB to provide a more secure access to the corporate data than Exchange server.

And there is no way these companies will stop using BB Enterprise server.

My company has BB and I currently cannot sync my Smartphone. But if MPx220 launches with BB Connect software. Then I can tap into BB Enterprise server for sync operations.

Similarly other enterprise users can also switch from BB device to Microsoft Smartphone device. :-) This will open up the enterprise market for the Smartphone vendors and carriers. :-)

[Philip Colmer]

Originally Posted by Kris Kumar

Exchange does support the (push based) E-Mail sync. The way you described is how it works.

OK, so assuming that I could find a means of getting the SMTP-SMS part to work (which appears to be easy in the US and not so easy elsewhere), we are back to trying to decide which platform is better.

(Desparately trying to not take this thread off-topic!)

Assuming the back-end works and you had a choice of a BlackBerry handset, a Smartphone or a Pocket PC Phone Edition, which one would you opt for and why?

--Philip

[Kris Kumar]

Must warn, I am not an expert on this topic...

Microsoft Exchange server Pros:
- One less server to manage / purchase (BES costs $5000)
- Exchange exposes all the contact, calendar and email information. BES (not sure if this is true with the latest service packs) exposes only the fields that are necessary from the RIM device perspective.

Cons:
- Security, BES offers better encryption.
- I am scared about exposing Exchange Server outside the firewall. Since it is known that MS is the favourite target for the hackers and that its current products are not bullet proof.
- Exchange uses a combination of Push and Pull. Blackberry uses Push to send the message itself. In case of Exchange an SMS notification is sent and the device upon receipt downloads the new mails using internet/data connection. (I have not tried Exchange but) It seems that the Exchange method will not provide the user with a superior experience. Exchange is heavily dependent on network quallity for email sync, whereas Blackberry with its push mechanism can send out mail on a one by one basis even when network is spotty/choppy. Not sure if I have explained this scenario. But think of it as having to download 10 mails vs downloading each mail individually. The individual may sound slow but works well in all kinds of network conditions. Whereas while downloading 10 mails if I drive out of the coverage area or enter a dead spot. The download may error out.

So for now Blackberry wins (provided you have the $$$ to deploy it). At least according to me. Otherwise Exchange offers good features at minimal expense.