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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“There [is] also an increasing number of vertical applications that meet specific requirements from particular businesses, including sales force tools that allow people on the road to arrange schedules, book orders etc. The numbers of employees affected by these types of applications are relatively small but they are increasingly critical to the way they do business.”

McCarthy explained how Windows brings together these two elements.

“Windows is the platform of choice for line-of-business applications for businesses who want to give their ‘field-based’ workers direct connectivity to business processes. If you’ve ever signed for a parcel on your doorstep directly on to a mobile device, it’s almost certainly running Windows Mobile and is connected to very efficient processes that reduce cost and waste, while improving competitiveness of the delivery company as a business.”

The question of openness is another important factor when considering which platform is best for business. The possibility of developing and more installing applications that benefit business means that a mobile phone can become an office on the move.

App stores

Application stores were one of the main talking points of Mobile World Congress last week, with companies including RIM, Microsoft, Google and Symbian launching or revamping an application marketplace in the face of Apple's version.

Hatton explained that this puts the vendors into a certain amount of conflict with mobile network operators who historically have controlled the sale of applications, at least to consumers.

Wood said: “Symbian’s open source and open processes will encourage and support a much greater range of third party innovation, resulting in numerous new and improved enterprise applications and services. We're being transparent with our roadmap and decisions, as well as with our source code.”

There are more than 18,000 known mobile applications available for the Windows Mobile platform according to McCarthy.

In Hatton’s opinion, you have to go a long way to beat RIM, despite its application marketplace being one of the newest.

“Businesses benefit from a controlled ecosystem even if it means that some third-party innovation is lost. RIM's dominance of the enterprise space is based on tight control of the end-to-end user experience.The company has also recently been putting a lot of effort into extending the range of third party applications supported by their devices,” he added.

“The big issue is that we're seeing an increasing fragmentation of the application development environment, meaning that application developers need to produce more and more different versions of their applications to sell across multiple platforms.”

Hardware choices

When it comes to hardware range, Windows and Symbian lead the way, with a large number of manufacturers taking on the platforms.

“Windows Mobile offers a wide choice of devices, of all shapes and sizes – some have keyboards, some have numeric keypads, some are even ‘ruggedised’ which makes them suitable for delivery drivers and other outdoor workers who need something tougher,” McCarthy said.

Symbian has been taken on by Nokia, Samsung plus Sony Ericsson and this is set to increase too, with the formation of the Symbian Foundation that brings together major players including Nokia, Sony Ericsson and LG.

The three main smartphone platforms each have advantages; Blackberry’s business-controlled environment gives IT managers complete control over features, whether it be synching or email, while Windows is the most familiar platform for those using PCs. Symbian has the support of major telecoms companies, but only time will tell if it can sustain its focus on business rather than consumer devices.

For the latest mobile phone news and reviews, check out Know Your Mobile.

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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