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Microsoft to Attack RIM with Magneto
An anonymous reader writes "At this week's Mobile and Embedded DevCon (MEDC) in Las Vegas, it's anticipated that Microsoft will finally unveil 'Magneto', widely expected to be dubbed Windows Mobile 2005. Magneto is rumored to merge the Pocket PC and Smartphone versions of Windows Mobile into a single platform that combines smartphone and PDA capabilities. Consistent with that strategy, Pocket Office will reportedly be renamed Office Mobile, with other key apps similarly redesignated Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, and Outlook Mobile."
My i600 currently is running Smartphone 2003. Being that it packs some beefy hardware for a phone (I ran the orginal Quake on it), I'm curious to know if MS will provide Verizon with an upgrade for users.
For the record, Smartphone 2003 was always sluggish and would crash. However, when I turned off the sound effects on the phone, all these issues went away and found it to be much more responsive. I suspect the media player components and/or codec is bugged. I hope the 2005 version provide major improvements in the GUI and sound effect response.
Life is not for the lazy.
I wonder ... some things have managed to make a very strong market share out of something or invention that was not understood, or had shaky legal basis in the past. Like was said here, what is the market (in units) for PDA's? What is the market for hand-size mobile computing?
There are several companies out there that keep hammering away at this market (even though it is not very big or profitable) and eventually, we will all become unimpressed with phones that don't have calendars, address books, do text messaging etc.
I guess that my point is this: does anyone see where this is going? Can anyone accurately predict what protocols, air interfaces, and file format standards will end up winning in this (now) mobile free for all?
I predict that the sheer size and market control that M$ has will play more than a significant role in this. To the point that I think anti-trust laws should be used to address anything M$ becomes involved in.... more or less. Not that I have any real fear that Excel will become a useful mobile application anytime before Cray starts making PDAs'
There are currently so many competing wireless interfaces and protocols, I don't see how anyone getting into the game can imagine they will make money unless they believe that they will be able to manhandle the market place and simply be able to metaphorically bludgeon the competition to death.
RIM started small, and with what I think was a sound business model. As they make their move into the more consumer oriented marketplace, it is a shame that they will have to fight M$ just to get in the game...
My real fear is that in the future you won't be able to get a phone without windozeXX on it, or be able to use any air interface not supported by M$ pocket-mobile-crap software.
I know that sounds a little defeatist, but I don't see any strong competition to M$... sigh
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In an incredibly geeky style here i go ... magneto was not really a bad guy , He was the one who ultimatly stoped Apocolypse allowing Bishop to resotre the proper timeline and saving the world from the Nuclear holocost...
...
Magneto was more of a anti-hero he was really good but just a bit hardline due to the mistreatment of mutants.
So i guess this shows us that microsoft thinks of its mobile devices as mistreated mutants who will save the world from Apocolypse
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
The 'big boys' have been trying to compete with RIM for a couple of years, before that RIM left its competitors in the dust. MS can try, but MS entering the competition shouldn't terrify RIM, hopefully it justs expands the demand and RIM can cash in on of some of the MS advertising.
Is there any remote chance that you will be able to upgrade from Windows Mobile 2003? If not, then it'll be a long time before large numbers of people actually start using this.
Every time you post an article on Slashdot, I kill a server. Think of the servers!
Are we now going to see Sobig.Mobile?
To be ever so slightly serious, Windows Mobile as a smartphone platform isn't really too bad, wspecially when you're already in a Windows shop. I just deployed some of the Verizon/Audiovox 6600 phones for a client of mine that runs MS SBS 2003 as their server platform (a small accounting firm), and they absolutely love them. The phones are a little bulky, but phone performance is good, data performance and mobile sync work very well, and it only took me a little while to set them up with the server. And they work pretty simply, with decent battery life as phones.
I wouldn't replace my Sony Ericsson T637 with anything in the current generation (particularly because I use iSync), but when you want your PDA and your cellphone to be in the same device Microsoft is doing a decent job of it.
Even though it pains me to say that about them - but once in a while Microsoft pretty much Gets It Right with a product. The PocketPC OS is pretty good, Mac Office is very nice (except for the monolithic database file Entourage uses), and SBS 2003 is pretty good for the smaller company with limited Internet exposure.
And odds are that the new PocketPC/Windows Mobile 2005 won't suck.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Even though Microsoft has tons of money to spend, I think they will have a tough time beating the Blackberry.
... Sorry :)
I always thought PocketPC was kind of bloated, and suffered poor battery life mostly because Microsoft doesn't manufacture or develop the hardware as well.
However, RIM develops both the hardware and software ( with some minor exceptions ) and this makes it easier to make things efficient and more reliable. It's also the clean interface, you've got icons, a thumbpad and a trackwheel, I don't deed a bloody fingerprint scanner, or 3D acceleration to keep up with my daily schedule. This simplicity is what helped the low-end palm devices and the iPods sell very well.
The only weakness I see for RIM is MS Exchange. The Blackberry Enterprise Server(BES) works with the MS Exchange server to keep things in sync. I don't know if it would be legal for Microsoft to do this, but if Exchange suddenly refused to stop working with the BES, it might spell trouble for RIM.
Being a University of Waterloo student, I myself am rooting for RIM as they're a Canadian company and they're set up right next to campus.
I just hope the developers there get to keep their RIM-jobs.
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
I would like to get a RIM: small keyboard, easy to type notes, addresses, to do lists on, etc.
The problem is the cost. The devices cost the companies that buy them from RIM hundreds must be expensive to buy. A company I work for buys them close to the selling cost, in the hopes of recuperating the cost on service plans. So the units are still around $500 to $600 CAN. And you have to sign up for a 3-year plan.
I think RIM needs to do higher volume on residential, non-business sales to survive.
If MS enters the market I can see a few things:
1) Either RIM lowers the price drastically, or, if they're lucky MS will price itself out of the market. Otherwise, its sink or swim with the 800 lb Gorilla. (Yes, comparison to Ballmer being made!).
2) MS continues vendor lock-in. Good luck getting this to work on OS X or Linux.
I hope RIM innovates and doesn't die. Its a really cool, profitable Canadian high-tech company.
The key reason why RIM has been so successful is because of their network architecture. RIM has the capability to trickle emails down to a device. Since the device is always connected to the network they have the ability to constantly receive these messages. The way the PocketPC devices are built they are not meant to be always connected to a network and if you did you would likely only get about 4-6 hours battery life. When you compare that to > one week for a RIM device there is no comparison.
I do like that Microsoft is making an alternative to the BlackBerry, I do not think that they will be much competition for RIM unless they build a network architecture like RIM's and they look into the battery life issues.
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Yes, my company does a lot of Blackberry development, and we also do Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) hosting, and it supports Groupwise and Lotus.
And yes, it happily supports POP3 access too. But dang, that BES is nice. Complete control over the phones, remote administration, just really, really nice.
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