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  #1  
Old 11-07-2007, 09:00 PM
Jason Dunn
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Default Chris Pirillo on the iPhone vs. Windows Mobile for Business Use

http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/10/30...c-for-business/

"I was a Windows Mobile device user for about seven years. I was against the iPhone at first, thinking my Windows device suited my needs just fine. Then Ponzi bought me the iPhone. MajorDef wrote in to ask which is better for business� a Windows Mobile device, or an iPhone? I am a product tester for Sprint, and recently got my hands on their new HTC Touch mobile device. It�s not a bad device. It�s very small and lightweight. It does everything I need it to do. But it just doesn�t compare to my iPhone. I get frustrated trying to push a button that doesn�t work on these Windows devices. After playing with this Sprint HTC Touch for about five minutes, I literally shook my head and said out loud �How did I ever DO this?�. Keep in mind that for seven years, I was perfectly happy with my Windows devices. Enter my iPhone. It�s not just an amazing media device, it�s a joy to use. It�s smooth, it�s functional, it works the way I never thought it could work. It syncs perfectly with my Outlook, which is where I primarily live with my work. It can share my contacts, calenders and tasks. I can connect it to Exchange. It�s just magic. Is it perfect? Hardly. But, it�s the closest to perfect that any mobile device has ever come."



This is from last week, but I thought it was worth sharing - on a dedicated Windows Mobile site like this one, you might consider this flame bait, but I'm hoping we can have some intelligent discussion on what Chris is saying. As a long-time Windows Mobile user, I think Chris' criticism of the platform has significant merit - he's not just some random user that picked up a Windows Mobile phone for five minutes and said he didn't like it. He's used it for years, is aware of the good and bad, and finally decided he couldn't put up with it any more. That's significant.

From my perspective, I've only had about five minutes of hands-on time with an iPhone so I'm not the best person to compare the two. But in my hands on time with the product, it's impossible to deny the beauty and fluidity of the product. Apple did a great job with the design. But look deeper from a business user's perspective: can you process a significant amount of email with no physical keyboard? I know I can't - I absolutely need a keyboard. Can you use it as a business tool without third party applications? No, browser-based widgets are not applications. Perhaps some people can, but I know many of you rely on powerful third party software to get more done. And what about the whole Exchange issue? Chris' comments about how great Outlook/Exchange works with his iPhone were news to me - he didn't really go into details, but mentioned Plaxo. I know some people who won't use Plaxo because it's such a potential privacy nightmare. That's my brief take on the subject - what's yours?
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  #2  
Old 11-07-2007, 09:46 PM
hang5lngbd
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He made some excellent statements on the current state of Windows Mobile. Although each new version gets better, the developer's reliance on the previous version really holds the OS back. Why change the appearance of the "ok" button, when Settings / Connections is so confusing, that without a power user to help, most people would never learn how to switch from using wifi to cellular data.

Although the current iPhone is missing crucial components that would make me a purchaser, I'm definately more interested in what the second generation iPhone will bring. With a better keyboard, faster processor, bigger HD, and most importantly 3G. The 2nd iPhone could be my next device if MS doesn't clean up their OS before Apple fixes their 1st gen problems.

-curious side note: Something didn't seem right about his "simple" syncing solution. Does it seem that he may be using plaxo to sync his Outlook to his Mac that syncs with his iPhone. And what part of exchange is syncing with the iPhone if you need plaxo for your contacts and calendar?
 
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  #3  
Old 11-07-2007, 09:48 PM
ctitanic
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I found his video last week and this is what I posted there.

But iPhone is a close platform. Right now there are developers working in the Windows Mobile platform that mimics most of the things that you have seen in iPhone. I know that Apple is thinking about to open the iPhone for developers but so far what I have seen is a closed platform with a locked phone. T-Mobile and AT&T are releasing now phones with windows ce that already include features like the ones in the iPhone.

I would ask Chris just one question, why I should put my business in the hand of a company that I do not trust any more and that is selling a locked phone? Forget about iPhone, why should I buy a locked phone? All my phones are unlocked and I have brought it to T-Mobile and they have helped me to configure them to have it working in their network. Something that is completely the opposite of what I lived in Cingular/AT&T.

If you call their tech support asking for the configuration to set any Windows Mobile Phone to work in their network they simple don't know. And all you are asking is for the IP, Proxy servers, servers and Ports. All that information can be found freely in T-Mobile site. AT&T doing the impossible to lock back the iPhones in every firmware release. Sorry, but I like to own my phone, I do not want to lease it.

(Somebody replied to me that there were hacks to unlock the iPhone so I replied this)

Yes, and I have read enough news when the last firmware was released about people with problems and unlocked companies running to rush a fix to get the iPhones unlocked again. We are talking here about a business. A business can't be going around the web looking for a solution everytime that AT&T release a new firmware.
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  #4  
Old 11-07-2007, 09:55 PM
mikemcw
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Default Two sides to every story

My first windows mobile device was an ATT Motorola MPX200. Actually, I had an old IPAQ with one of those PC card holders and a Verizon Wireless Aircard deal but I don't count that. I then bought an MPX220, then A samsung I700, then a Samsung I730, then a Tmobile Dash, then an Iphone, then a Samsung I760. Suffice it to say, I have a lot of experience with Windows Mobile and now my Iphone.

Now to the point.

I use both my Iphone and my I760 on a daily basis. There Iphone can do things that Windows Mobile can only dream of, but the Windows Mobile phone is still a more powerful business machine. I love being able to download songs right from Itunes. I have over 1600 contacts and they are very easy to find using the contact app in the Iphone. The small apps in the Iphone are functional and easy to use. The Iphone is intuitive. The data plan for the Iphone is much less, 20 bucks versus 44.95. Plus, I have to pay more to verizon for text messaging. People old and young love my Iphone. They want to hold it, and play with it, it never ceases to amaze me the reaction I get when people see me use it. People don't look twice at the I760. My experience with the Iphone will drive me to buy my first Mac, even though I have three machines already running Vista Ultimate.

I can open and edit documents with my I760. The Voice Command app is built right in and I never knew how handy that darn thing is. I've loaded Pocketinformant, Pocket Diary, and Pocket Plus and they make the I760 a joy to use. The current lack of third party support for the Iphone is a bummer, but it is coming. In my business, I conduct tons of observations of power plant workers and I take all of my handwritten notes in my I760 using phatnotes and phatpad. My IT department supports the I760, not so much the Iphone. Stereo bluetooth is a plus. Iphone does not support it but my I760 does. I love the onscreen keyboard of the Iphone but I also like the tactile feedback of a real keyboard.

Here's the bottom line. The main features that I use on the I760 are mostly software related. As soon as Apple incorporates some of them or opens the phone up to third party developers, I think they have the potential to blow the Windows Mobile device out of the water. But until then, I will be using both phones.

BTW: I still have my Dash! :lol: The Tmobile plan comes with unlimited use of tmobile hot spots and I visit starbucks a lot!

Mike
 
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  #5  
Old 11-07-2007, 10:04 PM
fmcpherson
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Ironically though, many businesses are not adverse to vendor lock-in when it comes to mobile devices. The companies who standardized on Blackberry are often standardized on one carrier that provides that Blackberry service for them and seem to have no problems with the prospect that if they switched carriers they may have to replace all their Blackberries because most have no intention of switching carriers.

Many companies have already established relationships and/or contracts with various carriers and I doubt that a company that has a deal with Verizon is going to dump Verizon just to be able to provide iPhones to their employees. Consequently, the iPhone's lock-in to AT&T is going to be as much of an impediment, perhaps even more of one, than the lack of built-in integration to Exchange.

What I think will be interesting is to see whether the traditional PC-standardization model holds for mobile phones. For the longest time it has held that the computer/environment that a person buys for their home is what they use at work, so if they use Windows at work they'll get Windows at home. It seems that Microsoft is expecting the similar thing to happen with Windows Mobile, though I am skeptical that will be the case. Even the PC model is changing as people are getting fed up with the extra tech support Windows seems to require and are starting to buy Macs even if they use Windows at work.
 
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  #6  
Old 11-07-2007, 10:07 PM
Dyvim
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I have to agree with Chris as to the usability of iPhone vs. Windows Mobile. I recently got an iPhone for my wife and it's awesome. It's just so much easier and smoother to use. Now as to whether you can really use it for business, I guess that depends on what your business needs are. I found the Outlook sync to be primitive- it only syncs contacts in your "Contacts" folder (i.e. you can't pick which Contacts folders you wish to sync, it only syncs the default one), and same for Calendar. And if you need some specific 3rd party app, then of course your choice is obvious: the iPhone isn't for you. But 3rd party app support is supposedly coming next year, so the business use scenario for the iPhone may improve.

Example of ease of use of iPhone: Monday we were moving in to a new house and we decided we wanted to order pizza for ourselves and the movers. We have no phone book and don't know any pizza places around here. So I whip out the iPhone, turn it on, go to Maps, pull up our new home address from a bookmark, type "pizza near " before the address and press "Go" (or whatever the button is labeled). And a few seconds later it shows a map with a bunch of pizza restaurants near our house. I find the closest one that isn't a Pizza Hut and select it. It shows like a contact- with name, address, phone #, web page, etc. I tap the phone # and it dials up the pizza place and I order my pizza. How easy is that? I know I could do the same thing from my HTC Advantage or any one of my many Windows Mobile devices using either the Google Maps application or through PIE or other browser, but it would have taken way more screen presses, typing, stylus use, etc. and the results wouldn't have been presented nearly so nicely and it wouldn't have been as easy to dial up the resulting phone #. The iPhone is quite simply a joy to use (in most scenarios). Using my Windows Mobile devices now feels clumsy and awkward, when just a couple weeks ago I was pretty happy with them (in blissful ignorance to the fact that there was something better out there).

My 3rd party app use is mostly limited to apps that fix the sorry built-in apps that Microsoft provides (Like CorePlayer for WMP). But the iPhone's built-in apps suit most of my needs as they are, so I might not need 3rd party apps like I do on my WM devices.

And Chris is also right about Word docs looking way better on the iPhone than in Word Mobile on Windows Mobile. True, you can't edit them without web apps (yet), but they render very similar to how they render in desktop Microsoft Office Word. So it's a great way to check out document attachments to email.
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  #7  
Old 11-07-2007, 10:18 PM
peterf
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Wow, There has been a couple times when I wanted to register for this site to say something, but I didn't really feel like it. But this is it. Get this **** off here. He sounds just like those douches on their commercials. **** the iPhone! No one is paying him? Yeah right!

And to Dyvim, have you heard of Windows Live Search? Same exact functionality, it doesn't take a million keypresses either. This site is about Windows Mobile, if you love your iPhone so much and dont like Windows Mobile, why are you even here?
 
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  #8  
Old 11-07-2007, 10:38 PM
unxmully
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peterf
Wow, There has been a couple times when I wanted to register for this site to say something, but I didn't really feel like it. But this is it. Get this s**t off here. He sounds just like those douches on their commercials. f*** the iPhone! No one is paying him? Yeah right!
With any luck this will be both your first and last post.
Quote:
And to Dyvim, have you heard of Windows Live Search? Same exact functionality, it doesn't take a million keypresses either. This site is about Windows Mobile, if you love your iPhone so much and dont like Windows Mobile, why are you even here?
I suspect most people who read this site are grown up enough to see that competition is a good thing. If the success of the iPhone forces Microsoft to get off their backsides and do something with their smartphone dominance other than give it away then everyone will be better off.[quote]
 
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  #9  
Old 11-07-2007, 10:48 PM
pivaska
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I would consider the iPhone if Verizon would handle it. Right now I need my phone in parts of the country where iPhone providers can not or do not reach. Slick, yes but I need the ability to use it when I want.
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  #10  
Old 11-07-2007, 10:51 PM
ctitanic
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I'll consider an iPhone if it's sold unlocked and opened to any other service provider. That's my main problem with iPhone. The second problem is being a close platform something that is already in the way to be fixed thanks to Apple because AT&T does not have enough brain to think something like that.
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