August 2008

What's Next Windows Mobile?

August 13, 2008 by Marc

Despite all the iPhone posts around here lately, I’m still a big fan of Windows Mobile. For that reason, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what is next for Window Mobile. What sort of plans does Microsoft have for the OS? Are they gearing it for the consumer market? Or are they only interested in enterprise? And what about rumors of a scalable version of the standard desktop OS that would run on a mobile device?

So if you’d like a little insight into the sort of things a software company thinks about as they decide on their future plans…read on!

In recent months Microsoft has been a little bit mysterious about Windows Mobile. (Perhaps they are taking a page from Apple’s book of marketing?) The result is that I’ve spent a fair amount of time puzzling over what the future holds for the Windows Mobile operating system. I do this in part, because I need to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry as I prepare to make decisions about the future direction for our company. The other reason is that, as I mentioned, I like the Windows Mobile OS and I’m just plain curious about it!

That said, here are a few of my musings…

Windows “Enterprise” Mobile: So maybe MS is planning to position themselves as the enterprise platform. I’ve seen quite a few of my friends who work for large corporations coming home with shiney new Windows Mobile devices to replace their BlackBerries. This makes a lot of sense since their desktop products already have a strong foothold in this area and their enterprise mobile solutions seem really strong. And you have to love the flexibility the OS gives you. If you need proof of this, the next time you’re in an Apple store, check out the handhelds the employees are using. They aren’t iPhones! :)

Windows “Touch” Mobile: Or maybe MS wants to go head-to-head with the iPhone as a core consumer device. They certainly offer a compelling alternative to people who want more control over their handheld computing experience. The question, of course, is whether MS can market this. It strikes me that MS has never had the greatest marketing team on the planet. Attempts to make their products “cool” end up looking like John Hodgman wearing a turtle neck and spouting “Hey, dude.”

Windows “Zune Phone” Mobile: I know how people feel about the Zune but MS does have a proven track record at breaking into markets “they don’t belong in.” Look at the XBox. It isn’t impossible that MS could come out with a really strong Zune Phone that offers people a choice. People like to comparison shop. If Microsoft can offer a feature set that is almost as easy to use as iPhone but with the flexibility we’ve come to expect from WM, this might work!

Windows “Mini-Desktop” Mobile: This is one that really has me intrigued. A little while back I read a blog that talked about a plan for the new desktop OS to be scalable. That is to say, the same core OS would function on a variety of device regardless of their hardware. This would be an amazing feat and if MS could pull it off it might be a first step towards a true “everywhere computer.” No more maintaing unique environments with separate software installations and constant compatability issues. Your desktop would be your handheld would be your laptop would be your web app. I’m sure that something like this is in the future, I just wonder if MS might be further along than we know?

So there you have it - my musings on Windows Mobile. Whatever the result, it looks good for us. Our application line up is universal making them equally suited for the enterprise environment or the individual consumer. And scalability is something we’ve been dealing with for the past 11+ years!

So what are your thoughts? Where do you think the Windows Mobile OS is heading?

R.I.P.: Ilium Software email server

August 6, 2008 by Marc

So here we are, fielding hundreds and hundreds of email questions, desktop software requests, and much more, and guess what happens?

The email server dies.

Again.

OK, to be fair it didn’t die on Monday. It just went down for awhile which put us behind on our email responses. Today, however, the thing finally went belly up. Although we didn’t lose any emails UPDATE: It looks like we COULD have lost some emails if they came in between 12AM ET and 8AM ET. If you think you may have emailed us during that period you might want to resend!

We are working hard to get replies out to everyone in a timely fashion. Fortunately, the trouble on Monday got us moving in the “Get a replacement, STAT!” direction, so recovery won’t be too bad.

The bad part is that email replies will likely be slower than usual, and we’re very sorry about that. We pride ourselves on quick email turn-around, and this is just the sort of thing that makes us crazy. We’re even bringing in a temp to help get things rolling again, so hopefully we’ll get to everyone before the weekend!

In the meantime, if you haven’t heard from us yet, at least you know why. And if it’s an emergency, remember that you can always give us a call!

Copy and Paste - Do You Need It?

August 5, 2008 by Marc

It’s Soap Box Time! Matt Miller over at ZDNet recently wrote an article about Copy and Paste. His question was whether or not people really need Copy and Paste. To me, this is really one of those “you don’t miss what you don’t have” sort of scenarios. Fifteen years ago, the number of people who would have “missed” the internet if it went away was pretty small. Today if the internet went away, entire corporations would go under, governments would fall, and scores of stores would go belly up in a few hours.

OK, so Copy and Paste isn’t quite like that, but my point is that no one will miss Copy and Paste on a device like the iPhone until they have the power it gives them. Want a good example? Think back to the release of the Windows Mobile Smartphone. People were having fits when they moved from a Windows Mobile Pocket PC. Many simple day to day tasks suddenly became a nightmare of keypad re-entry. Sure, the iPhone has a better keyboard than those early Smartphones but we have a clear test case where no one realized they needed something so badly until they had it, then had it taken away. In the end, guess which device got Copy and Paste?

Now I realize that Matt’s use scenario doesn’t really seem to support this. Clearly he doesn’t do a lot of copying and pasting, but a lot of users do. I for one am a heavy copy/paster. Many of our customers are as well. Furthermore, even hand entering one or two 50 character redirect URLs can make you hate your device. And is that really the sort of experience Apple wants their users to have?

Not having Copy and Paste also stifles the creativity of developers. It’s one more tool that a clever developer can use to make your iPhone experience even better. For instance, right now we can’t copy password and usernames into Safari on the iPhone. The best solution available? Write our own web browser and include it with eWallet! Talk about software bloat!

In some ways cutting back on choices can make life easier and better, but at other times it prevents you from getting the most out of an experience. In the case of Copy and Paste I absolutely believe it’s the latter.

People might gasp to hear me say it but there really are scenarios where Apple would do well to take some lessons from Microsoft’s experience!

Time to Get Out the ol' Contest Hat Again

August 1, 2008 by Julie

Wow. July sure was full of excitement, wasn’t it? eWallet 6.1 came out, the AppStore launched, and we pretty much chewed off all our fingernails trying not to go crazy waiting for the iPhone version of eWallet to get approved…well, you were there, you remember. But all that news just means we had lots to post on our blog, so you had many chances to leave a comment and try for some free software. Can’t beat that, can you?

All right, let’s see who our lucky blog contest winner is for July. According to our magic contest hat, the winner is David, for commenting on the post eWallet for iPhone Answers II. Congratulations! I just sent you an email explaining how to get your prize. If you don’t receive it, reply to this post and let me know.

To everyone else, thanks so much for all the comments, support, and questions - July was a crazy month, but we made it! And we’ll be sure to keep you updated with all our news and announcements, so keep coming back and leaving your comments - next month’s winner could be you!