Over the last week or so, I’ve noticed that there are an awful lot of posts here on RIMarkable about BlackBerry Connect. So many so that I have created a new category called BlackBerry Connect. Now, if you don’t know what BlackBerry Connect is, it basically is a service from Research in Motion that allows you to connect to BlackBerry Enterprise Server or BlackBerry Internet Service from a non BlackBerry device. Think of using iTunes to buy music but not using an iPod to listen to it.
If you go back in time you will notice that a year ago the the providers offering BlackBerry Connect were far and few in between, but as time went by, the offering became more and more common. Today, BlackBerry Connect is offered on 12 or so different devices and a provider or two a week, primarily abroad, announces that they will provide the service.
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Rumor has it that the HP is recalling the Ipaq hw6515 becasue of a GPS issue. On top of that, the device may not even offer Windows Mobile 5.0 support.
The hw6515 was touted to be a BlackBerry Killer, however, buggy hardware and support only for a 3 year old OS that has yet to produce one serious competitor to the BlackBerry, the hw6515 may be just another in a long line of BlackBerry killers that never quite met the bill.
For those of you that read RIMarkable on a regular basis you know that I am a die-hard BlackBerry fanatic, but, I have to admit that I am a bit worried about Research in Motion. Today marks the day that in many ways, may change the way that we think about wireless email. Today wireless email and BlackBerry are synonymous. Today is also the day that Microsoft releases it’s pre-beta of Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 which brings wireless email to all Exchange 2003 users with a Windows Mobile 5.0 PDA.
I am worried because because all of the BlackBerry Killers up until today, quite honestly have been laughable. Either the technology was not on par with what RIM offers, the device makers couldn’t agree on a way to make their units talk to backend mail systems, or the companies offering backend systems were too small to make a dent in RIM’s market share in the industry. I am worried about Research in Motion because Microsoft really only has one of these problems. Microsoft’s technology is not on par with RIM’s.
Unfortunately for RIM, Microsoft has in their arsenal the two most powerful weapons against inferior technology. They have used these weapons time and time again when they wanted to enter an industry that they intend to dominate with an inferior product. These two secret weapons are “Free” and “Time”. A most deadly combination when used properly and Microsoft has mastered the art of offering inferior products for free and over time improving them enough to make most forget about the tool that was better to begin with. How many of you still use Netscape? Probably a few, but a small few, like a few trees in my back yard as compared to all the trees in the world.
Microsoft will release an unsupported pre-beta of it’s latest update to Exchange 2003 that will include ‘Direct Push’ technology that allows Windows Mobile 5.0 powered PDAs with wireless and wifi capabilities to get ‘always on’ server initiated email delivery similar to that found on Research in Motion’s popular BlackBerry handheld devices.
The Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 pre-beta, officially called a “Community Technology Preview” (CTP) will be released tomorrow, August 19th according to Harold Wong’s Blog Site.
Please be aware that CTP releases of any product will not display the stability of a shipped Microsoft product. Customers may encounter problems with Exchange Server 2003 SP2 that could possibly result in a loss or destruction of data. Some of the mobility features contained in this CTP download are not yet available for testing, pending availability of Windows Mobile 5.0 devices that have the Messaging & Security Feature Pack installed. Those devices will be available later in 2005 and 2006. Also some of the security features in SP2 are only available when used with Outlook 2003 SP2 which will not release until later in 2005. This build is available only in English.
Those interested in the checking out the CTP can download it from here. This link, however won’t work until tomorrow.
Scott Horn, from Microsoft is disputing many of the claims made by Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie last week on a conference call. Balsillie downplayed the competitive threat from Microsoft’s Messaging & Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0 stating that only 12% of Exchange users are on Exchange 2003 which is required for ‘Direct Push’ mobile email. Horn, however, claims that 40% of the overall 126 million Exchange user base are on Exchange 2003.
I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. I am sure that more than 12% of the Exchange user base is actually up an running on E2K3 servers but that number is far south of the 40% of licenses that have been purchased. Many companies own Exchange 2003 licenses but have not completed their upgrades and migrations to the latest messaging platform offered by Microsoft.
Last week Balsillie also suggested that carriers will charge more for data plans that use Microsoft’s ‘Direct Push’ technology.
Michael Woodward, executive director of mobile professional solutions at Cingular, said it’s too early to say how much carriers will charge for Microsoft’s direct push service, as it isn’t available yet. However, he did say that competing services tend to be competitively priced. “Most enterprise customers choose unlimited plans, including whether that’s BlackBerry or something else, and that pricing is all very similar,” he said.
from Cellular-News
Will Microsoft’s Messaging & Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0 be more fault tolerant than the BlackBerry service offered by Research in Motion? RIM has suffered its third major outage in as many weeks. The latest outage being the most significant, affecting Australian based Telstra BlackBerry Users for almost a day and a half.
All BlackBerry email flows through Research in Motions headquarters in Ontario, Canada. This definitely has advantages such as PIN to PIN messaging but there are disadvantages as well. If there is a problem with a telco’s link to RIM’s headquarters, such as the one that Telstra just suffered, everyone on that provider will have a problem with sending and receiving email.
Microsoft’s ‘Push’ based email may be seen as more fault tolerant because mail flow is decentralized. There is no central point that all mail must flow through once it hits the internet from an Exchange 2003 server with SP2. So long as your Windows Mobile 5.0 device can get internet access, email should be pushed to you.
Research in Motion is undoubtedly the leader in the mobile wireless email industry but unresolved settlement specifics with NTP could make it easier for Microsoft and RIM’s other competitors to get a toehold in the space. Companies like Turner Broadcasting has thousands of it’s users on the BlackBerry platform but has put a contingency plan in place to move to other mobile email technology in case the stay on the injunction that, would prevent Research in Motion from selling BlackBerry devices and service in the United States, is removed.
A shutdown of Research in Motion is far from certain at this point but the reality is, I.T. shops only like to deal with vendors that they are certain will be around for the long haul. The renewed legal uncertainty will definitely make I.T. managers look at alternative technologies from the likes of Microsoft, with their Messaging & Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0, and other RIM competitors like Good Technology, who has already struck a patent alliance with NTP.
It may turn out that the “Always On” Direct Push email technology found in the Messaging & Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0 may not be “Push” technology at all. Windows Mobile 5.0 email capabilities are much like those of regular email clients, periodically checking for email on a scheduled basis. True Push technology, like that found Research in Motions BlackBerry Enterprise Server is completely server based and pushes email to the BlackBerry handheld devices whenever there is new mail message.
This is significant because it takes more power to send a transmission than it does to receive a transmission. A Windows Mobile 5.0 device that has to check to see if there are new messages on an Exchange Server may be more battery-life challenged as compared to devices that take a true Push approach.
Microsoft, today, announced the Messaging & Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0 and this BlackBerry Killer may actually have some teeth. Together with SP2 for Exchange 2003, the Messaging & Security Service Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0 will compete directly with Research in Motions ever popular BlackBerry and “Push” based email technologies from Good Technology and Visto. Oh, and by the way, it is free. That’s right. The expensive server side piece required by other solutions comes as a free service pack for companies already on Exchange 2003. This free addon for Exchange 2003 will make Microsoft a big time player in the “Push” email game from day one.