Blackberry: Crushed?

By Keith Longmire

Why all the hype over the Blackberry? You know, that personal organiser so beloved of city executives.

As far as I can tell the Blackberry does one thing well – deliver your emails to you while your are on the move.

Forgive me if I am underwhelmed.

For less money you could buy the Intelligent Diary on a top range pocket pc and get email, multiple diary coordination, work on your MS Office documents, watch video, take photographs…

Let me be honest.

I’ve never used a Blackberry. Most of my knowledge about the Blackberry’s features come from web sites trying to sell Blackberrys. My insights into Blackberry thumb (a condition brought about by typing with your thumbs) come from an accountant friend of mine.

My friend thinks his Blackberry is brilliant.

But I just don’t get it.

I just can’t get excited over the ability to receive email on the move.

The Intelligent Diary operates on the latest generation of Pocket PC with inbuilt smart phone. Like the Blackberry, the Intelligent Diary allows you to collect your email on the more. But unlike the Blackberry, you can coordinate multiple diaries, download your MS Office attachments, work on your spreadsheets, manage your contacts…

In fact, using the Intelligent Diary you can do just about anything you can do in the office.

And thanks to the wonders of GPRS (and 3G as it becomes more widely available) you can already use the Intelligent Diary across more than 80% of the UK. GPRS coverage is not perfect - and 3G networks have some way to go before coverage is anything other than patchy - but the Intelligent Diary adds Wireless LAN network to the mix of connectivity technologies, including triband GSM/GPRS (900/1800/1900MHz), Bluetooth and infrared. Just compare that to the limited connectivity options offered by the Blackberry.

The Intelligent Diary provides a sophisticated contact management system providing instant access to all your contact information. Never again will you have to call the office for the name of that supplier that is on your desktop PC. All contacts are always available and always updated.

Make your calls with one touch telephone dialling. Search for your contact by name. Click on the name. The number is dialled. It is as easy as it gets.

How Does it Work?

The Intelligent Diary system resides on your Pocket PC. The central diary resides on our central server (no need for MS Exchange or Lotus Domino licences). Using your Pocket PC you will instantly be able to make appointments, add contacts and manage your time more effectively than ever before.

You will also be able to access the diaries of any of your colleagues, subject to security privileges, that also have Intelligent Diaries. Scheduling appointments across multiple diaries has never been so simple.

Obviously, you can also access your diary from any PC through a standard web browser. To work off-line (useful when you want to organise your contacts or schedule appointments in bulk) there's a one-click install that installs the Intelligent Diary on your PC.

So now you can understand why I just don’t get the Blackberry.

Another triumph for marketing hype over true innovation?

Until now. Anyone for Blackberry Crush?

Keith Longmire is a self-confessed technophile and Director of Intelligent Diary. His guiding philosophy is, "if it doesnt't deliver cost-effective business benefit it is useless". You can learn more about the Intelligent Diary system by visiting the Intelligent Diary

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