TechVirtuoso

Dell to issue 25,000 employees Windows Phone 7 devices

November 5th, 2010 at 9:09 AM  1 Comment

Dell plans to give each and every employee a Windows Phone 7 device, specifically their Dell Venue Pro, as early as next week. In exchange, each employee must give up their CrackBlackBerry.

“Clearly in this decision we are competing with RIM, because we’re kicking them out,” the computer maker’s chief financial officer, Brian Gladden, said in an interview.

The company says the switch will save them 25% in mobile communications costs. They also plan to develop and market a service to encourage other companies to do the same thing. Dell also said they plan to offer phones based on Google Android in the program, in the future.

The 25,000 free Windows Phone 7 devices for Dell employees is in addition to the 89,000 devices given to each Microsoft employee. It’s a big boost for the enterprise credentials of Windows Phone 7 that two major companies are putting their money where their mouth is on this platform.

via The Wall Street Journal

Goodbye RIM, Microsoft, hello Android, Google Apps

November 20th, 2009 at 1:07 AM  5 Comments

androidThose of you who know me, know that I have been an avid BlackBerry proponent for many years. I held fast to the opinion that BlackBerry coupled with Microsoft Exchange was the solution for business mobile communications. Be it BlackBerry Enterprise Server or Microsoft ActiveSync, I held steadfast in my opinion that nothing could perform as well or better in maintaining perfect harmony between my desktop, my laptop, my phone, and anywhere access to my information. I am here to say, that era has ended. A moment of silence, please. Now that the mourning is over, let me tell you the changes I’ve made, how, and why.

First, let me say that I had not been looking to leave the BlackBerry/Exchange family, but I was holding out for a full screen BlackBerry with a physical keyboard, a slider if you will. Those of you who follow mobile devices closely, especially those who follow BlackBerry hardware, are well aware of the numerous design concept drawings, mock-ups, etc. of a BlackBerry slider that have been floating around for at least a year. Never revealing just exactly when we would see such a device, RIM has only been willing to confirm that several design options have been considered. This secrecy is nothing unusual among device manufacturers, but the lack of information and an opportunity provided by a competitor presents a precarious position, and, in this case, caused a long time RIM fan to jump ship.

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Palm drops Windows Mobile in favor of webOS

September 18th, 2009 at 11:29 AM  6 Comments

palm-pre-webos-lgPalm has announced that they will no longer be incorporating Microsoft Windows Mobile onto new devices, stating a commitment to the future of their new webOS platform, present on the recently released Palm Pre. Windows Mobile was first released on a Palm device back in 2006 with the Palm Treo 700w, later followed up by the 700Wx, 750 and Treo Pro. 8xkqt5hwir

“We’re making significant process with Palm’s transformation, and our culture of innovation is stronger than ever. We’re launching more great Palm webOS products with more carriers and turning our sights toward growth,” said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and CEO.

This move comes as a blow to Microsoft, which is struggling against up and coming smartphone OS providers in the business sector like Palm webOS, Google Android, Apple iPhone and the continued fight against Research in Motion’s Blackberry.

According to Garner, at the end of 2008, the estimated market share for Windows Mobile, worldwide, in the smartphone market was 12.4% — currently many of the those phones are made by Taiwan based HTC, however they’ve began releasing many of their new phones with Google’s Android platform, so it remains to be seen what their continued commitment to Windows Mobile will be.

However, the move could backfire on Palm, as some businesses continue to see devices like the Pre as more of a consumer oriented device and will opt for Windows Mobile and Blackberry which provide better support for Exchange and more enhanced and native device security.

Yesterday Palm, together with Sprint, revealed they’d only sold around 810,000 Pre devices in the last quarter. (In comparison the iPhone 3GS sold over 1 million units in the first week and over 5 million in the quarter.) Palm also announced yesterday losses for the quarter reached $164.5 million, compared to a loss of only $41.9 million last year. However, this did beat industry expectations for the company. Palm says they expect revenues for the next quarter to be even lower than their last.