Yesterday we heard the rumor that Exchange 2003 SP2 could be released today. Today we know that the rumor was true. Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 has been released.
If you remember, two months ago to the day I told you that I was just a bit worried Research in Motion. Since that day RIM has inked some partnerships, made some announcements, and released new hardware that have subsided those worries to some extent, however, I am really anxious to see how how the market and how the boys up in Ontario react to the Microsoft threat in the coming months.
Microsoft threat may sound kind of harsh, but to think of it as anything less would just be plain foolish. I am not one of these doomsdayer types that thinks it is the end of the road for Research in Motion, however, even though the ball is still in RIM’s court, the game has completely changed. BlackBerry Killer takes on a whole new meaning today. It no longer refers to new pieces of hardware that will make 4 million BlackBerry fanatics jump ship (like that would ever happen). It no longer refers to the the little, or even, the no so little start-ups that offer competing technology on those other pieces of hardware.
When we say BlackBerry Killer now, we are referring to one of the most powerful companies that the world has ever known, that for the most part has an unlimited supply of money, a notorious reputation for entering new markets and completely dominating them, and is offering their solution for free. Microsoft’s goal is to sell seats on Exchange and to sell PDA’s that run Windows Mobile. Whatever RIM does, they need to keep those two things in mind.
The extension “Direct Push Technology” uses SMS (or mobile short message service) to notify the device of new mail. See this link.
In terms of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server – this is still a long way away, since BES offers tighter integration across all enterprise applications.
In terms of the BlackBerry Internet Service – your restricted to Hotmail and your Exchange 2003 account. What of all those Exchange 5.5 and 2000 users? BIS also supports iNotes/Pop/IMAP/AOL/Yahoo/Hotmail.
Microsoft has not really shaped up as a ‘BlackBerry Killer’ yet but they certainly do have the potential.
I think you need to read your resources before linking to them The direct push technology does NOT use sms. The exchange features are designed to compete on the BES market not the BIS market. The service pack is compatible with Windows Mobile 5 devices and any windows mobile 5 device can already be used with any POP/IMAP service
Stern, my mistake. I’m not sure how the upgrade (the new AUTD) works now.
Could you elaborate on the assertion that the feature is targeted at the BES market? Does that imply that wireless subscribers with windows mobile devices can’t use this feature with their corporate exchange servers by just installing the service pack? Perhaps to leverage this feature, support from the carrier is necessary. If they used SMS notifications with the earlier version, that would allow all windows mobile device owners to get their corporate mail without carrier support. So even the BIS market would be fair game. I could be wrong, your insight would be be very helpful.
Thanks,
Santosh