Which mobile platform is best for business?

With three main smartphone platforms taking up the lion’s share of business communications, it can sometimes be hard to decide which is best for you business.

By Clare Hopping, 2 Mar 2009 at 18:13

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When deciding which operating system - or platform - is best for business, there are a number of considerations you’ll have to take into account, such as which handles email in the most efficient way, whether browsing is clear enough for online applications, and which platforms are best to carry out multiple functions.

Blackberry for example, syncs all office applications including POP and IMAP email with its Enterprise Server. Windows for Mobile utilises Microsoft’s exchange server, while the iPhone utilises Apple’s own MobileMe platform for push email.

Matt Hatton, principal analyst at Analysys Mason, believes that when deciding which OS is best for business comes down to survival of the fittest.

“The business market differs from the consumer market in two ways. There’s the need for reliability and the availability of IT support in business applications, and in consumer markets, open models will dominate,” he explained.

“The business market demands a rather more managed approach. An end-to-end managed environment is more in keeping with the demands of business. That's why a company like RIM is so successful with the Blackberry product. It controls all elements of the service including device, application and server to ensure the optimal user experience.”

The contenders

However, James McCarthy, head of business marketing at Microsoft, believes that the familiarity a platform such as Windows provides for business people is one of the most important factors when deciding which OS to choose.

“Windows brings the familiarity of Microsoft Office to the mobile device, including Outlook Mobile, Word Mobile, Excel Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile. Through these we deliver a great deal of similarity from PC screen across to mobile screen.”

“Outlook Mobile can be securely enabled on Windows Mobile devices without the need for any additional software or servers, just with a relatively inexpensive data ‘bundle’ from the mobile operator,” he told IT PRO.

“This makes delivering Outlook Mobile to all employees a very cost effective use of existing company assets – more so than mobile email solutions that require additional servers and expensive tariffs.”

David Wood, part of the Leadership Team at the Symbian Foundation, thinks that platform support and development is one advantage that Symbian has over other platforms.

“Symbian is the only platform with roadmap input from a range of the world's leading mobile companies. It has a uniquely proven capability in both roadmap design and roadmap delivery.

“We have healthy and productive relationships with network operators around the world and support a wide range of hardware, device form factors, and user interface models - offering great choice to both consumers and business people,” he said.

“The powerful ecosystem of partners means that we can quickly provide new solutions catered for specific consumer and business use.”

Examining applications

When examining which platform is most useful for business, there are two main considerations, said Hatton.

“There are horizontal applications that are relevant to all business, such as email, web browsing. Other than voice, email is probably the single most used application, simply because it is such an integral part of how we do business today.

A well-implemented email application can save businesses time and money.

“As little as a 15 minute per day time saving is enough to pay for a mobile email solution for most businesses,” Hatton explained.

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It is worth noting that Nokia have developed their own interface with MS Exchange – called Mail for Exchange. It is installed on all of the E series handsets and presents a wizard on the start up screen which leads the new user through the stages of setting up their e-mail account. With networks now providing cheap data bundles as a bolt-on to voice tariffs, the cost of running Mail for Exchange will typically be less than half the price of Blackberry BES. To the best of my knowledge the BES service offers only an improved security level for it’s increased cost and to most users this is simply not relevant.

By Ip_MarkF86c34ee6 on Tuesday Mar 3

Apple and Exchange

I can't let this pass without comment. The nokia example is also true for Apple and they were there with some big corporations backing them. Watch the keynote from the iPhone 3g launch, it is all there. iPhone syncs with your Exchange server seamlessy, calendar, contacts, email, meeting requests. No extra servers or costly licences. We switched mainly on usability and data package. I have had nearly Zero support calls for the iPhones and they behave impeccably 99% of the time. My users were frustrated by other hardware but were delighted by how easy the iPhone was to use, it met expectations and the learning curve was minimal. No extra data costs and the switch between wifi and cell network is handled beautifully. that can't be said for windows devices. Security isn't the same as Blackberry but it isn't an overiding factor for our business, neither is working on word/excel documents on the go. I wouldn't want to do that on a phone anyway, email is as much as you should expect to do in the real world lets not kid ourselves. Communicate devices are what these bits of hardware are and not desktop replacements.

By gcd_772fa8be67ff on Friday Mar 6