Understanding Mobile Devices

Comcity Technology is contacted daily regarding clients who have or are in the process of purchasing mobile devices such as Blackberry, IPhone and Windows SmartPhone's. What most people don't know is that there are large differences across the range of products and especially the requirements needed to run these devices.

To assist you with the important decision of what to choose next time you are thinking of purchasing a mobile device, we will provide the Pros and Cons of the most popular products currently on the market.

Blackberry
By far the BlackBerry has been the product which Comcity is most often contacted about. For many years Blackberry has been the market favourite for Business mobile solutions. It is also the product that you will be shown first when you walk into any mobile phone shop asking for a recommended mobile device. Before you buy a BlackBerry however, you must consider the options and requirements around the software needed to run these devices. It is critical that you understand the different functions that each of these options provide. In many cases people have chosen BlackBerry only to find the software does not meet the requirements they have for the device. A breakdown of the options can be found here (PDF).

It is important to note that if you decide you want to utilise the features only available through the BlackBerry Professional or Enterprise Software, you will need to place the software on a Server. In many cases you will find that this results in another Windows Server being required. This greatly increases the costs of the solution, both in upfront server costs and ongoing maintenance costs of running another server. Based on this, it is critical you discuss this possible requirement with us before you buy the devices and associated software.

iPhone
The release of the iPhone took the mobile market by storm. Apple made the decision to enable Microsoft Active-Sync on the device during development. This meant that connecting an iPhone to your Ms Exchange Server (included in Small Business Server) required no extra costs or software.

It is important to note however, that there is a difference in the way the Active-Sync software works compared to Windows Mobile enabled devices. For example Tasks are not sync'd and you cannot control the size of the emails your device receives. This, along with access to a huge number of additional applications and features, means that you have to ensure you are on a data plan that suits the way the device will be used including volume of email you receive, as expensive extra data costs can be easily incurred.

If you intend to run specific line-of-business applications on the device, check with the application vendor for support as not all applications work on the Apple platform.

Windows Mobile Devices
Windows Mobile devices are perhaps the least known and until recently struggled with major vendor take up with no "household" name brands manufacturing the devices. This however has changed greatly in the last 6 months with vendors such as Samsung and Sony now producing Windows Mobile enabled devices. Another common complaint was the style of the handsets available, again with the major manufacturers now on board there are a variety of handsets in different brands available with touch screen, QWERTY and foldout keyboard designs.

Windows Mobile Devices have the full version of Active-Sync built into the device meaning no extra software or hardware is required if you are running Ms Exchange (included in SBS). These devices also have the ability to change the download options on emails enabling you to reduce the data plan costs of running the devices.

More information on current models can be found here.

Microsoft 2009 Small Business Solutions Partner of the Year

Comcity Technology proudly announced it has been awarded as the 2009 Microsoft Partner of the Year for Small Business Solutions. The company was chosen out of a national field of 14,000 Microsoft partners for delivering market-leading customer solutions built on the Microsoft platform.

As announced earlier this month, Comcity Technology recently won the Microsoft Small Business Solutions Partner of the year award for 2009. This follows the success of being a finalist in the category in 2008. Comcity Technology was also a finalist in the Network Infrastructure Solutions category as well this year.

To be nominated in two categories in 2009 was a huge reward for Comcity Technology and recognition for the time and effort all our staff put in on a daily basis. For you, our Clients, these nominations validate your decision to engage with an I.T. partner who demonstrates consistency in delivering the best solutions available.