“Word dropped this morning that Torch Mobile, makers of the Iris Browser, had been purchased by Research in Motion. That’s great news for BlackBerry fans, who have been in dire need of a browser for, well, ever. However, this is bad news for Windows Mobile. We just heard back from Torch Mobile spokesman George Staikos, and the response is unequivocal: ‘The company will no longer continue developing for Windows Mobile or Windows-CE.’”

I just can’t help but think that if another large company in the mobile market, such as one that may also be chronically dogged as anti-competition, were to do this, people would be outraged. But since it’s RIM, I suspect no one will make much of a fuss. Pity to see a WM browser alternative bite the dust over purely financial reasons.

This was originally posted at Pocket PC Thoughts, check out the the source for discussion.

Recently while at the MVP Summit, I attended a session on Microsoft’s new System Center Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM) product. This piece of software, when set up and running, allows IT administrators to lock down many of the functions in Windows Mobile as well as deploy applications similar to the way admins do it on the desktop. I downloaded a version of the software, and while my test environment caused me more headaches than joyous occassions, the product does look like it has substantial promise. But that’s not the point of this piece – I’m more interested in the strategy of mobile device administration that it allows corporations to utilize, and concerned that it may tempt companies to adopt a rollout strategy that may not be appropriate for Windows Mobile.

If you’re the IT Executive of a company and you wake up one morning thinking “I want all my users to be able to use a Windows Mobile device”, you have two options. First, you could get budget approval for training, implementation, and deployment of company-purchased devices (perhaps eventually shifting the cost to the user, but most likely the company will spend a considerable chunk of change on the actual devices). This would also require your IT department to receive devices in bulk, and configure them in bulk (This is where many other company’s managment suites come into play, as installed agents put on devices before users ever receive them from IT).

Of course you could go another route – the route popularized by RIM. In this route, your users learn about a great new device they can use to get their work e-mail and such at home, called a Blackberry. They go to their cell phone company see Blackberries displayed in the store. User buys device, user contacts their IT department and receives enrollment instructions. User plugs in enrollment values, device downloads settings from IT’s servers, and device is configured.

Obviously the second model shifts much of the physical handling of the device to the end user, and this is the model SCMDM fits: Give the user an enrollment password and let them set it up. This model shifts the IT department from an active role in deployment to a passive one – a good thing as far as enterprise adoption is concerned, right? Well maybe not quite – because the model also depends on users taking the first step: namely knowing about and buying the device.

Since Windows Mobile 5, Microsoft has focused many resources (Some say too many) on enterprise functionality, with SCMDM being the latest offering. But if you want your device to be successful in the enterprise, is it a good idea to shift responsibility for buying the device to the user? Especially since Windows Mobile has yet to reach the name recognition of Blackberry. It just concerns me that while SCMDM is a great tool for enterprises, it may cause them to put the responsibility of buying a device on their users, which may in turn actually hurt Windows Mobile adoption in enterprise environments. This is really bad for Windows Mobile as a platform, as it prides itself on its budding enterprise support. But if users never buy the devices, they can’t be used in the enterprise!

What do you think – is the model of “user buys device” going to help or hurt Windows Mobile, with special attention to enterprise adoption of the platform (and perhaps enterprise conversion from Blackberry to WM).

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“We’ve actually just made available a tool to help quantify the TCO of both environments. The tool has been built by Alinean, Inc. who are a leading expert in IT Business Value. The Windows Mobile Messaging TCO Tool, an online calculator developed to analyze the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of competing mobile solutions has been developed in partnership with Wipro, the analysis tool is based on research of mobile deployments by 160 customers, and a comparative lab-based study to determine the TCO of the leading mobile platforms for e-mail messaging and collaboration”

When it comes to cost, Windows Mobile always struck me as lower than Blackberry inherently due to the fact that Exchange natively supports Windows Mobile. However, Push email wasn’t always a factor and with new blackberries coming out as often as they do, many organizations may be looking to either update their fleet or switch. If you’re wondering what the TCO of Windows Mobile would be for your group, this tool that Jason Langridge has posted on may be of some assistance.

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For those of us Windows Mobile fans not in major busines markets or who live in academia, it can be disconcerting to not see ads for our platform of choice (especially when we’re inundated with ads for Blackberry and Palm OS Treos). Saw this electronic ad this morning at LAX as I prepared to fly back to Cleveland. Count that as 1 mainstream Windows Mobile ad spotted this…year.

“Usually you wouldn’t expect someone to start a review with the conclusion, but this is certainly the best Windows Mobile Pocket PC Telecom New Zealand have released since they brought the HTC Falcon to the market a few years ago. The Telecom New Zealand Titan is based on the HTC Titan model, a small, pocketable Windows Mobile handset with a sliding keobard. It’s not much bigger than other handsets I’ve seen around, and is actually a bit smaller than the BlackBerry curve I have around here for testing now. It measures 110 mm x 59 mm x 18.5 mm and weighs about 165 grams with battery.”

Our friends in New Zealand now have the option to get a pretty nice device, The Titan (Marketed by Sprint in the US as the Mogul). I’ve played with one before and was pretty impressed, however I wish it sported more than a 2 MP camera. Any Titan users out there that want to weigh in?

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“Maybe your dreaming about higher data speeds, Windows Mobile, a 3 megapixel camera, integrated GPS, and you want to have the option to put BlackBerry Connect on that sucka’! Your dreams should become a reality on September 25th, as AT&T is posied to launch the much-awaited AT&T 8525 replacement, the HTC Tilt 8925″

The Boy Genius Report is, well, reporting, that the Tilt (AT&T’s version of the HTC TyTN II or HTC Kaiser) will be released around the 25th of this month, which I’m sure will make many rejoice. Boy Genius also brings news of the HP iPAQ 910c Business Manager’s debut on the former Cingular Wireless, another new device that may tickle your gadget fancy. AT&T has been a solid Windows Mobile provider for the last few years, and it looks like this year will be no exception.

P.S. – I wouldn’t be surprised if a HTC TyTN II Review didn’t show up around here sometime soon… so if you’re tempted by this device, you may want to keep an eye out!

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“What started as a trickle of unofficially official shots from Sprint’s Q4 pipeline has suddenly become a deluge. Check the LG Rumor, Touch (aka, Vogue), and Blackberry Pearl 8130 (above) all dressed up with Sprint logos and sales-goon positioning points for a Q4 launch. We already saw Palm’s Centro, OQO Model 02, LG Rumor and Touch yucking it up in the wild this morning but this is the first time we’ve seen the 8130 in Sprint, not Verizon attire. The 8130 sports a GPS receiver but no WiFi like we saw in those RIM slides last month yet still packs all the rest of the EV-DO niceties you’d expect.”

Nice to see that Sprint feels “Who needs Wifi?” when it comes to a device like the 8130. No problem – with outages and no wifi, perhaps it shall tempt some BB users to come to the dark side of Windows Mobile. Regardless of the other operating system, these new choices do mean that Sprint users will have some more options quite soon. Is it just me or does Sprint now command the most variety of Windows Mobile devices? Treos, Moguls, & Touches basically have the form factors covered. Nice.

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