Windows Mobile 7 delayed until the end of 2010?

I agree that Blackberry servers are ridiculously expensive, and often offer no real benefit (aside from maximum security) over standard Windows Mobile or other devices that use the ActiveSync protocol.

Also, Windows Mobile may be buried deep in the Enterprise world, but not cemented in. I work for an ASP hosting company that hosts entire network/desktop environments on terminal servers in our data center for dozens of companies (and adding more all the time). Now granted, the size of the companies (headcount-wise) that we host is generally 1-200, so that covers small and medium business, not large business. However, we have recently started to get several requests to help setup Motorola Droids, HTC Heros, and Palm Pres, and we’ve supported iPhones for a while now.

I firmly believe that is a trend that will continue, because even lots of business users are sick and tired of the stagnant Windows Mobile platform. Many of the clients who use Windows Mobile devices with our service are using bare-bones HTC devices with no TouchFLO, so they are exposed to the nastiness of Windows Mobile 6.1 or older (had one call the other day with somebody who was still on WinMo 5.0). As these people go into their carrier stores, looking to upgrade, they’re going to be taking a serious look at alternatives like iPhones, Android phones, and WebOS phones. They simply offer a much better user experience than Windows Mobile (with the exception of the HTC’s TouchFLO devices), they’re a lot cheaper, and for small and medium business, the lack of some enterprise-level features doesn’t bother them.

No, large enterprises are still going to stick with Blackberry and Windows Mobile for various reasons, such as security and manageability (can’t remotely manage iPhone/Android/WebOS yet). In that market, those two are still “firmly entrenched”. And admittedly, Android and WebOS are intended to be consumer-oriented, not business-oriented. The iPhone is an odd duck, because Apple appears to want it to be enterprise-capable, but they still refuse to let you manage it with anything other than iTunes, which is the most pathetic excuse for an enterprise management tool I know of. It doesn’t support any kind of remote management or strict security policies. Sorry Apple, you just don’t get it yet. Anyway, as far as future evolution of the products at hand, I believe Android has the most potential of any, and it will be very interesting to see how that platform will look a year or two from now.

I too was under the impression that Windows Mobile is dying and I still think it’s an option.
On the other hand, I just had a chance to use the new HTC HD (2) for a while and I must say that with the amazing capacitive screen and great speed, this phone makes me think there is still a chance to hide WinMo’s diseases.
http://mobilespoon.blogspot.com/2009/12/one-night-stand-with-htc-hd2.html

Will it be enough to last for almost a year?
I’m not really sure.

Yes, but… money talks and business is looking to save money wherever possible. I didn’t pull this example out of thin air, my company is doing it with all 10,000 of it’s U.S. based employees.

As for 11 e-mails on a device, well, I’ve got five on my Windows Phone and I don’t see any cap so who knows? Besides, companies only care about ONE e-mail address — the one they gave you. My guess is that many companies would prefer to lock the device down to that one e-mail address for security purposes (doesn’t BES give administrators the option of locking that down?).

Besides, I didn’t say that RIM was in danger of disappearing, I just said Microsoft is still strong in the enterprise market and I don’t see that changing. RIM and Microsoft will continue to battle for the corporate space while Apple and Google will battle for the consumer space.

While I agree that the Blackberry is very popular in the business sector, they following has to be considered. I the current economic times I.T. budgets are thin and the cost of setting up a RIM exchange interface server is costly and can often be considered an expense that can be passed on. I know that where I work this was the case. We have spent millions putting an exchange server in with the full communications suite which includes VOIP phones that tie into communicator and exchange, but we passed on a RIM exchange server, pissing of many users, because of the added cost of the server and software.

I think that handsets like the iPhone that can natively interface with exchange will begin to take a stronger hold and slow knock blackberry from its corporate foothold.

Question: have YOU tried all the OS’s you mention, especially WinMo that you so vocally dis?

I have. Have you noticed – no, apparently you haven’t – how much effort you spend in operating your iPhone? To get the weather, for example, you must touch the screen to activate then slide to Unlock. Push home button. Slide scroll to correct page, spot and click correct icon. With touchscreens you spend a terrific amount of finger effort to get anywhere, plus as noted the iPhone OS does not multitask.

To do the same thing with my Treo Pro WinMo device…touch the center button. That’s it. I have a [free] weather plugin directly on my “desktop” (the Today screen) – just turn on the screen and it is right there. In the middle of surfing but want to check email? Fine – one button, that’s it, I am instantly in email. Yet my browser session is still in the background, still running and still downloading anything I asked it to the last time I left it. Cool and simple – it’s a desktop in a little handheld.

BlackBerry wasn’t too bad but that little trackball drove me nuts – BB is a Symbian without the familiar ease of a d-pad. It’s rather have the real thing, Symbian, as I feel it is power-user familiar and “clean”.

IMHO touchscreens in conjunction with hard keyboards are perfection – speed with convenience, combined. BB and Symbian S60 make up for some of the loss of a touchscreen…some…with S60 being closer IMHO. BB’s trackball becomes a pain after 6 months when the ball’s mechanism gets dirty (in the real world) and starts skipping – so BB’s failing is a hardware decision, not software, which is why I believe they are turning optical. I’ll have to try the new optical controller, it will probably change my mind back on the device.

Android is the OS I have real like so far. But as an OS that is only 1 year old I think I’ll wait for things to settle down, thanks. Android is changing much too fast for its own good. Some sites have noticed this, but the device review / blog sites seem to push it along blindly not questioning if all those changes are good for the *customer*. I do not feel they are – nothing like a device being outdated, requiring upgrades if even available, less than 3 months after you buy it. That sucks