Blackberry: After the Sky Has Fallen

I'm not usually a "doom & gloom" person, nor am I saying that they sky is falling (yet), but for those of us who can't live without our Blackerry mobile email devices, February 24 could be the day when Research in Motion's legal luck runs dry and they're forced to cease sales and wireless email service in the United States. Let me say again, I'm not panicking, but should the hammer fall, other means of getting email pushed to a different mobile phone must be considered and I believe that the hour of decision has to be well before then.

A little background. I've been using various incarnations of the Blackberry for years, even before it was a phone. Despite many of my colleagues in the IT business ditching theirs in favor of a more tranquil email existence, it's been very successful for me and I've learned to play the "keep `em guessing" game well as to my digital availability.

So what is the other option? A Windows Mobile device with a similar thumb-driven keyboard is the next step for me. Since the insane success of the Blackberry, Microsoft has (once again) said "anything you can do we can copy and eventually do better" and now has their own version of push email conveniently and very freely bundled into Exchange Server 2003. Its a combination of Outlook Mobile Access on the server side and Exchange Activesync on the device. Recently, I had the opportunity to set this up for a friend of mine on his Treo 700w from Verizon and I must say, it's not bad - it's not bad at all. Some additional benefits of a windows mobile device include cool ringtones and camera in a very enviable touch screen phone that also sports a slick Outlook-like planner, MS Office document reader and Windows Media Player.

Why the rush - why must I decide now?? Demand, pure and simple. Should Blackberry's plug get pulled, the alternate devices would quickly become quickly scarce. Now, I love my Blackberry and I really don't want to see it go, but my allegiance is to my customers who need to know that I'm listening when they speak. If I need to go on to the next thing, then so be it.