It's been more than a year since Microsoft launched Windows Mobile 5.0, and it's quickly becoming a business favorite. Low-fuss connectivity to Microsoft's Exchange e-mail system is one reason; familiarity, another.
"Most people are used to Windows. You can click 'Start' to get wherever you need to go," says Michael Hernandez, assistant director of IS at Century 21 Thomas, a real estate and vacation rental company that's transitioning to Windows Mobile-powered Treo 700w smartphones to synchronize with its e-mail server. It will replace Palm OS-based Treo 650 smartphones.
Windows Mobile comes in two flavors. A smartphone edition is good for wireless e-mail, calendaring, and voice notes. A Pocket PC edition adds mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Companies buying Windows Mobile smartphones should know what they're getting. Motorola's Moto Q, which runs the smartphone edition, is geared toward consumers; Palm's Treo 700w, with the full functionality of the Pocket PC edition, is a better choice for businesspeople.
Microsoft last year released a Windows Mobile feature pack for Exchange 2003 that for the first time supported automatic e-mail delivery, or push e-mail. The beauty is that no middleware is required.
But it's buyer beware with Windows Mobile. Users have complained that Microsoft's mobile operating system locks up, requiring frequent rebooting. And device memory sometimes gets used up by programs running concurrently, slowing down apps.
Nevertheless, IT departments that use a lot of Microsoft products may find Windows Mobile hard to pass up. Developers can use the familiar Visual Studio and .Net tools, and there's a special version of Microsoft's SQL Server database for mobile applications.
What's more, Microsoft's just-released Windows Vista operating system comes with a Windows Mobile Device Center, which automatically recognizes a mobile device and allows it to sync with Outlook and Office files. By midyear, Windows Mobile will support new Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file formats in the 2007 Office system.
Microsoft's challenge: Symbian's more experienced, RIM's more focused, and Apple's got the mojo.
