Carriers, equipment vendors line up behind Microsoft Direct Push
By Marc Perton 
posted February 12th 2006 9:47PM
posted February 12th 2006 9:47PM
Microsoft is taking
the stage at 3GSM to highlight the company's Direct Push mobile email technology, with announcements from Cingular,
Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone that they'll support the technology, which enables BlackBerry-style push email on Windows
Mobile 5.0 devices. Hardware vendors are also lining up to promote Direct Push, with HP, Asus, Fujitsu Siemens and HTC
all announcing support -- not that they have to do anything special to do so, since the function is built into a
service pack for Windows Mobile 5.0. Nevertheless, hyping Direct Push is one way for both hardware vendors and carriers
to capitalize on the buzz Microsoft is working to build. Hey, it's worked for years for PC makers; why not mobile device
makers?
Yeah, but Windoze Mobile 5.0 sucks...So we save some money by dropping BES and we're all stuck with a Windoze UI. I might as well wait and just connect at home via VPN. No thanks, maybe when Windoze Mobile 9.0 is ready...
Move over Blackberry! With RIM's recent woes, this may spell the beginning of the end for Blackberry's hold on the market. I am very interested to see the pricing on this product, since my company uses Microsoft Exchange for email. As much traveling as I do, this would be a great timesaver....and my laptop could stay packed during the day!
As a long time Blackberry user and current PocketPC user, let me just say that this won't kill Blackberry. If all you want is email (easily), Blackberry is about the best. Its simple, and just works. If you want to do just about anything else, its time to look at some other options.
My company builds some really versatile software for PocketPC {shameless plug}, but I was a PocketPC user even before I started here. I like being able to install software to do just about anything I want. I like watching videos, listening to music, IM'ing, and all the stuff that Blackberry is behind in.
I don't think Blackberry will die until people start REALLY wanting a small scale portable PC-like device. Hopefully that will be soon.