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Microsoft takes largest share of PDA market for first time | |
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| Time: 10:55 EST/15:55 GMT | News Source: PCPro.co.uk | Posted By: Brian Kvalheim | ||
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Microsoft's PDA platform has overtaken the once dominant PalmSource, according to research group Gartner. The company says that in the most recent third quarter, the global market for handheld devices showed Microsoft's Windows Mobile Pocket PC platform accounting for nearly half the three million units shipped. About 2.8 million handhelds were shipped in Q3, with Microsoft taking 48.5 per cent of that market and PalmSource accounting for 29.8 per cent, down from 46.9 per cent a year earlier and a drop of 28 per cent. | ||
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| #1 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 11/15/2004 12:45:25 PM |
| From my experience, I've come to the conclusion that ActiveSync (as well as Intellisync) should be scrapped, at least for business use (I should start calling it ActiveStink... I really don't like it, nor Intellisync). Once you see how slick synchronization can work with BlackBerry devices, you wonder why they don't just ditch ActiveSync altogether and write something new from scratch. |
| #2 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 11/15/2004 1:06:43 PM |
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BB BES uses a totally different model and connection method. A server accesses the mail store via a master account which has full Exchange Management permissions.
A separate, and pretty fragile BB DB Server runs independent of the mail store and maintains copies of messages forwarded/received according to rules. The BB BES communicates with the BB network via its own connection/port. It is entirely different and while it has its strengths, it also has its weaknessess - no rich text, or rich text support for file attachments [PDF etc...]. While there is desktop re-direction and a web client, it is not normally desired by users who want mail server integration and also do not want to leave their POP clients up and running. Running both for different clients and also having used both, I'd recommend secure through the air sync with Exchange and Windows Mobile. It's nice being able to see rich text and also embed voice email messages in a response while on the road from a phone. |
| #3 By 37 (12.104.90.162) at 11/15/2004 1:47:14 PM |
| I have been using ActiveSync with my PocketPC without issue, in fact it works great. But that is the only thing I have used it for. |
| #4 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 11/15/2004 7:21:12 PM |
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I guess maybe it's a situation where YMMV? Here's what I've seen so far:
We have Exchange 2003 and have tried using the Verizon Samsung i600 against it using server-side ActiveSync. When it works, it works pretty well. However, ActiveSync seems to fail every so often on different attachments and even calendar items. And, once it fails on one item, it fails to complete the rest of the sync. ActiveSync as a whole seems to be rather flaky; sometimes everything is configured correctly but the device still doesn't work (requiring a reset), and the error messages often are misleading. On the desktop side, we had a batch of Toshiba e740s. Nice devices on paper, but it was problem after problem. The battery life was really hit-or-miss. Personally, mine nearly always would work for about a week on standby, which isn't bad at all. But other users were occasionally getting less than a day, and that was with minimal use. Over the course of two years, we tried ROM updates, turning off notifications, etc. (and the wireless switch was rarely if ever turned on for most of these folks), and still some people had really lousy battery life. I saw it happen on mine as well a couple of times--I'd have it in the cradle all day, go home, not touch it, then in the morning it would show the battery as nearly dead and would turn off after a few seconds to go into standby mode. The notification LED was turned off (we had to do this as Toshiba confirmed that the "Flash light for: <n minutes>" setting actually didn't work at all, but would continue to blink indefinitely). Granted, some of these are OEM issues... but that's of little consolation to the end user struggling with their device. I've had a BlackBerry 7100t for awhile now, and it just works slick. I do miss some of the things you can do with the PocketPC--obviously the BlackBerry does not have near the capabilities or the available software. But in a way, that's also sort of its strength--it does only what most people really want out of it (at least for now ;), but it does it very well. The sync process is much more reliable... it just works, really. And it's a true "push" technology... I was a little disappointed in the Exchange ActiveSync approach with the specially coded SMS message triggering a synchronization. The security features are also nifty (killing the device remotely is a nice function), and combined with the remote administrative features, you can tell that this is a device designed with the problems IT folks face in mind. And apparently with the upcoming BES release, the devices can be provisioned entirely from the BES console--no desktop software installation necessary as everything will be synchronized wirelessly. This is good for a number of reasons, one of which is that the Desktop Manager software uses Intellisync, which has many of the same problems as I've experienced with ActiveSync. Also, the devices are significantly cheaper. I don't think the BES account is a huge problem, really, and it hasn't been fragile in my experience. It's true about the PDF attachments, though--if they are embedded TIFF files, for example, you get nothing. And you can't edit attachments (although this was somewhat true on the PocketPC as well--editing in Pocket Word could get you in trouble...). Rich text is lost as well, but in our situation I'm not sure that it's a real issue. But all in all, I think it's a superior solution (at the moment), especially for our users. |
| #5 By 23275 (68.17.42.38) at 11/16/2004 4:41:41 AM |
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#4 Good analysis. We did a study and a lot of testing and moved most clients to the i600 and Exchange. ActiveSync has been flawless. We do use our own ROOT and Subordinate CA Servers - relieving the previous requirement to use CERTCHK etc... and import the ROOT CA to the device.
I don't know how many users you have been supporting on BES, or what version you are running, but I have had to manually rebuild DB and restore DB consistency too often on even modest sized DB's to like it much at all. I get a few calls a week to re-load this user, or that, or restart its associated services after re-sending policies to users who have to continuously re-register. Most BB users also carry mobile phones, so Windows Mobile and the i600 as integrated to Exchange 2003 Enterprise was a welcome change. We've been running it since the 2002 versions first came out and updated the original batch of i600's to 2003 when it came out. Basically, for ourselves and many clients, collapsing costs was a big issue, which on the i600 with pools of user minutes and a single device, users and managers are both very happy. Yes, some BB models combine both, but users of them report terrible phone performance. About the only thing I hear about is the BB's thumbnail KB - users like it, but their messages are anything but thoughtful - by that I mean, the average BB message is just about useless - I see a lot of, "Ok" or "I email when I get online" or, "I call u" - all brief, and nearly useless messages. However, with SmartPhone a user on the road can record and embed in an email a very thoughtful message which is transported as an attachment. The phone performance on the i600 is also very good adn with its roll-out keyboard, one can type a more thoughtful message. There are real differences, but I see the SmartPhone line emerging because it is a better value, offers more promise for better performance and it uses Exchange's mail store, which has become truly a very good DB - easy to manage and very fast. I do not see nearly the future for BB - particularly as Smart Phones become more powerful and take over many duties formerly carried by larger PDA's and laptops. We still maintain BB BES servers for some clients, but they each plan to ditch them as soon as newer form factors from Verizon include a dual flip design and a thumbnail keyboard. Personally, I use the i600, but find myself missing older Nokia designs for phone use. Like a lot of people, I look forward to more powerful and advanced form factors, which I suspect will be released early next year. |
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