1 post tagged “blackberry”

    The Waterloo based "Research In Motion" has announced that it is developing an application suite for Windows Mobile 6 that will expand blackberry services to the platform. One of the benefits that RIM lists for this is the familiar look and feel of the "Blackberry Experience."  From the press release, this seems to basically put a RIM Runtime environment on the user device allowing access to Blackberry applications, as well as the ever popular Blackberry push email mechanism.

    This is a big win for RIM in that it widens their potential user database, as well as maintains their look and feel for Blackberry users who have switched to WM6. To a degree, this is also a win for WM6 users who are more comfortable with RIM's interface then a Windows Mobile approach. For windows this is a slight loss as they are trying to push the newest version of Exchange into the market, but this allows for Lotus and other applications through RIM's server plugins. Finally, for system administrators it's a mixed blessing as it simplifies their administration capabilities, but I fear it does this by taking security out of the hands of the same administrators.

    "Push" Email is the killerr feature that has kept the Blackberries in such high demand. While many phones have had email capabilites for a while, most would pull the information off the server requiring either a schedule or a manual requests to grab the emails.  RIM's server extensions basically allow a syncronization between you email servers and those located in RIM's server farm in Waterloo, Ontario. these servers then strip content from the email to make it as basic as possible and send it directly to your Blackberry.
    
    Microsoft recently released a server package that gives a psuedo-push system to the existing connection between their Windows Mobile devices and exchange server. I say psuedo-push because it doesn't quite push the email. When an email is recieved the exchange server sends a pre-specified notification SMS to the user; her phone, in turn, uses the prespecified method programmed into it to connect and download from the exchange server. Now, any mail administrator worth his grain of salt would contact his network people at the time of install and set up the windows mobile devices to make an encrypted tunnel to the company network and then pull email through that. This has the benefits of keeping the email encrypted, as RIM's services does, and the added benefit that the email never leaves your control.

    So why do I find this better? Simply put the control of the email. While RIM does ensure that emails are kept encrypted, I have yet to see any federal or otherwise enforceable mandate that makes RIM responsible if the data is released to anyone other then the intended recipient. Additiionally, to make the Blackberry viable in several eastern countries, RIM is actively developing tools that will allow it's encryption to be circumvented by government officials. Insert Orwellia n Republican joke here.
   
    The method Microsoft uses above is a tested method and while the software does require exchange the method by no means does. I myself have been using the same method since T-Mobile first gave an email to sms gateway as part of it's services. A small script forwards the basic header information in sms format to my cellphone. If it's something particularly interesting I have my cellphone download the headers and select the email which I wish to read. This is a bit more manual of an approace, and I admit that since my phone is Symbian based it wouldn't be too difficult to automate; however it's certainly not difficult to do it manually and might even save me data time in the long run. Only one caveat remains with this method, and that is I need a US cellphone to do it. Unfortunatly, in Canada, Rogers is pushing the Blackberry to exclusion of all other mechanisms. While my T-mobile phone roaming on Roger's is fully capable of grabbing my email; Rogers is blocking data unless you have a heavily charged Blackberry plan, making true email out of the reach of the average user. Even their WAP access is heavily surcharged. In short, the future is out there, but whether it's RIM's or some other companies is yet to be seen; except perhaps in Canada where the mobile market prices are restrictive to free growth in the industry.

Technocrati Tags : Geek,Research in motion, Exchange, blackberry, Rogers, Microsoft, Security