Disclaimer: If you are a lover of the Blackberry don’t read this, just kidding. Seriously though, despite our professional views on the Blackberry, we still support both Blackberry and the Blackberry server.
This post is aimed at all the clients running Microsoft Exchange as their email server. I have to get this out there from the beginning; I am a HUGE fan of Microsoft Exchange for many reasons:
- You can share calendars and contacts
- Great webmail interface
- Centralized backup
- Real time syncing of Outlook and certain smart phones
Many folks buy a Blackberry because it’s such a big name and is synonymous with business/ tech people on the go. However, I have a very big issue with the syncing capabilities of Blackberry. When user’s run a Window’s smart phone or an IPhone, Exchange syncs wirelessly by default. You don’t have to buy another piece of software and you don’t have to worry about maintaining a piece of software that connects to exchange. Not to mention there is not a centralized data network, such as RIM.
My main reasons for disliking Blackberry:
- Blackberry is completely dependent on the RIM network, so if the RIM network goes down, you lose data connectivity. ( I have seen the CNN headlines for RIM going down many times)
- Blackberry requires an add-on piece of software in order to sync email/contacts and calendars. That is another piece of software you have to buy and pay someone to support, and it’s not cheap.
- From my personal experience, Blackberry requires 3x the support when working with Exchange, than our Windows Mobile/ IPhone users.
In closing, I just don’t understand it. Blackberry may work fine for one user, but you still have to add a piece of software in the middle to connect it to Exchange, where Windows Mobile/ IPhones just work. There is no added cost to buy a piece of software or to support it. It is baffling to me in this market how Blackberry can be so uncompetitive against Windows/IPhones. I guess they are just hoping the Blackberry brand name will sell the phones as opposed to real functionality and value. So don’t listen to the salesman at the cell phone store who will tell you Blackberry can do everything including your laundry, he has no idea!
