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Originally Posted by gadgetfanatic
I keep reading about bb connect and reading about the new Microsoft push-email that is supposedly coming soon. Does anyone here have any REAL experience with bb connect. Say, like on a Nokia 9300, since Cing. is offering that device now. And who knows the real deal with this new ms push mail? Are there true alternatives to BB devices on the horizon or are these going to end up being failed attempts to conquer the "BlackBerry Empire"? I'm not looking for an alternative right now. I'm very happy with my current BB's and excited to know that the 7130 is coming to Cing., but it would be nice to know that one day, if I decide to, I could continue having push email on another manufacturers device. I am a GADGET fanatic, not just a BB fanatic.
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No real alternatives just yet, however as a GADGET freak BlackBerry Connect offers you the BEST expereince for this sort of function on THAT device.
We have tested, and occasionally even some of our users use the Nokia 9300/9500, the Sony P910, the Nokia 6820, the Siemens Sk65. We have a few users in The Philippines and Indonesia who use the Nokia 9300 or Nokia 9500 because it is a status symbol in those countries and beyond any doubt, BlackBerry Connect is the best experience you can get on that device. We have a bunch of users who can't wait for the Treo 650 BBC client which I am told could now be launched 'somewhere but not in the USA' in the next two weeks.
But it still isn't a BlackBerry.
I have played with the MS push email stuff - might be OK for a small organization but it is a disaster for anything serious. Maybe in a year or two MS may get it right, but this effort is a total joke. To secure it Microsoft recommends that we install ISA server, OWA (ok had that), a device management system and a third party security system - AND I have to ensure that all the firewalls between Exchange and the device have a 30min timeout - any less and it has to create the connection again. Except of course I don't control all the firewalls between my server and the device. Oh and I have to open inbound connections and it pounds on my servers (which I don't need)
Also the lack of a controlled infrastructure like RIM has means that it is almost impossible to figure out any communication issues or guarentee any sort of reliability of connection or communication. Actually the MS solution is not even close to other solutions in the market - just has a bigger name behind it than most.
I'd say RIM still have at least a 3 year head start on everyone else. As long as they keep bringing out new stuff, they'll be in a pretty good position. This year looks like RIM may have a lot more product after a quiet last year.
The main problem for the competition is that no one but RIM want to be responsible for the whole solution. You can't make a 'BlackBerry Killer' without devices, control of the data transmission, control of the devices, management of the devices, etc, etc, etc.... I know we don't want to have to piece a solution together or (as was suggested to me a consultant last week) have to pay someone $xx,000 for them to do it for us.
Bunker
"REAL" Alternatives?
