Windows Mobile vs RIM Blackberry Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) New Whitepaper

[Jerry Raia]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2007/07/02/windows-mobile-vs-rim-blackberry-total-cost-of-ownership-tco-new-whitepaper.aspx' target='_blank'>http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2007/07/02/windows-mobile-vs-rim-blackberry-total-cost-of-ownership-tco-new-whitepaper.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Back in 2006 we produced a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Whitepaper focusing on the total cost of ownership of a Mobile Messaging solution using RIM Blackberry or Exchange and Windows Mobile. We have just published a new version of that study which now includes data from over 160 Enterprise customers. Those customers used either Blackberry or Windows Mobile and we have included their real world TCO metrics in this study."</i><br /><br />As you might guess, WM comes out ahead in this study. I'm not surprised by this. It is a superior platform in my opinion. The study shows WM has a 20-28% TCO advantage. For more details head over to Jason Langidge's WebLog and give it a read.

[andrewbadera]

.docx? no thanks -- lame!

[mbranscum]

I own a Blackjack, and am a long time WM user having owned several WM Smartphones and PPC's. I also own a BB Curve. The Curve beats the BJ in almost all respects. Better keyboard, faster response, much better battery (pushmail, I'm program and RSS feeder on all day and at the end of the day I have 60-70% battery left! Plus I have experienced numerous dropped calls on the BJ. I know I'll probably get slammed for saying this but the BB OS is much more solid and it just works. No resets, reliable IM programs and constant updates from BB improving their OS.

I really like WM devices but they are gonna have to do some work on the OS. If not Microsoft may see themselves fall behind another competitor or two.

[applejosh]

I don't think you'll get slammed for your opinion (at least you shouldn't in the way you presented it). I am due for a phone soon. I was thinking about getting a Q (if I stay with Verizon) or a Blackjack (if I change to Cingular), but I really am kind of intriqued by the Blackberrry 8830 (Verizon) and Blackberry Curve (Cingular). I have a Q for work, and it is for the most part, just fine. I do have charging issues at times (apparently a known issue judging from the many posts over at everythingq), but it works most of the time.

However, I have heard people rave about these two Blackberry devices. (Call clarity, ease of use, etc.) I've gotten to play with a couple of 8830's lately, and although the trackball takes some getting used to, it is getting easier to use. So I don't know. I may go over to the "Black" (berry) side with my next personal phone. I'll still have my Q for work.

[bshpmark]

I understand the whitepaper was produced with enterprise users in mind but from a single user point of view I have been testing the BB and my Dash side by side for the past three weeks and have made my own conclusions like everyone else. I've used both the BB 8700g and Pearl on T-Mobile.

I really want to like the Blackberry. But I can't figure out what the big deal is about push email. I must really be dense or I am just missing something somewhere. The Blackberry, according to the RIM person I spoke with, only checks email every 15 minutes unless I am on an exchange server, which I am not. Well, my Dash is set up to go out and check my email accounts every 10 minutes. I gained nothing on the BB there.

Second, how has everyone stood reading email on the BB for so long with all of the html code appearing in the emails? You have to get a separate app in order to format the email correctly. I never had any problems in either WM5 or WM6 reading the emails on my Dash and not having the html code show up.

Try to get a decent weather program for the BB. You can't! At least I have not found a standalone weather program that compares to Fizz Weather, Dash Weather, or anything similar. The apps available for WM are simply much more than the BB.

On the flip side, I am tired of having to reboot my Dash once or twice a day just to get it back up to speed and get memory freed back up. No problems with the BB with freezing up or running low on memory lilke the Dash and WM6 (especially).

And when it comes to browsing the Internet, my Dash wins hands down! First, the Dash gets a better signal than either the 8700g or the Pearl. But the WM IE browser is so much faster and better than the BB browser. It seems like it takes forever to load web pages on the Blackberry but on the Dash they seem to pop right up.

So I guess it ends up just being whatever works for you. I am looking now at the BB8800 and will look at the new BB coming to T-Mobile in September that has Wi-Fi on it. That should be sweet. Now if it would just have at least a 3.2MP camera that will be great.

[mbranscum]

The Blackberry, according to the RIM person I spoke with, only checks email every 15 minutes unless I am on an exchange server, which I am not.

Your partially correct. If you foward your mail through a BB account (as in my case I use BIS), or you have a GMail account which is also compatible with the BBservers, your mail arrives instantly.

On the other hand, if you just try to push a regular generic email account through the service, it will only poll every few minutes. Just like exchange, you simply need to foward your account through your BB email account.

[randalllewis]

I have found I do need my email pushed to me so I reluctantly gave up on WM last year to get a Blackberry because my employer has invested in the BB server and doesn't want to manage a WM system too. So I used a rather basic BB for six months. Coming from WM, I found the UI to be cluncky. It excelled at email but was a bust at everything else, especially Internet service. And on top of all of that my BB was just as homely as could be. The Curve and the Pearl are much nicer looking and I hope internally they have been improved to match that nice package, but I'll never experience it because I have come back to WM with my favorite phone EVER -- the Blackjack. When I read somewhere (sadly not here) that the Blackjack's xPress Mail program would push my email to me regardless of what my employer wanted to do, that was the final fact I needed. Are there still things I'd change about WM? Yeah, sure. Big deal. The BJ does what a smartphone must do best- be a great phone and it has so many other great features, I am still finding new ones even after two months. And I love xPress Mail. BB? no thanks. iPhone? no way.