A Mobile App Gets Whacked
It’s official…
Business Contacts Mobile just lost its coveted spot on the ol’ utility belt.
And it’s a crying shame too. Because if there were only a couple of changes to it, it’d be a killer app for SMB folks. Maybe the dev team will take a long hard look at this, through the magic of pingback.
Let me preface all this by saying that BCMobile been a key piece of the SBS/MOA/BCM/Outlook/WM integration of ours. So this decision isn’t being made lightly or capriciously.
First off, the app is PocketPC…err, Professional only. In fact, its real name is Business Contacts PocketPC. I think the platform-specificity slices off a huge segment of its potential market. Blackjacks are flying off shelves and into the hands of users, but Business Contacts Mobile won’t run on it.
Issues of Windows Mobile version market share aside tho…
Business Contacts Mobile has some showstopping limitations that are forcing me to dump it from my arsenal.
It’s impossible to use Business Contacts Mobile one-handed on a Pocket PC. With my recent switch to a Treo 750, this has suddenly become a must-have feature. The problem with Business Contacts Mobile is that you cannot do anything of any consequence without tapping either with a stylus or your finger at some point.
And, Business Contacts isn’t Voice Command enabled.
I cannot tell you how infinitely cool it is to simply say “Call Karl Palachuk” and the unit will start dialing him from the Contacts folder. I did that very thing yesterday morning while showing what Windows Mobile can do to one of my customers. (Hey Karl, sorry about that phantom call, BTW).
The reaction in their office?
That is so freakin’ COOL!
But then that customer wanted me to dial them using Voice Command. And I couldn’t. Because they’re in Business Contacts Mobile.
Their reaction to that?
Ohhhh… (awkward silence)
FYI: This is a hardcore MacOS customer who is mulling an iPhone. Voice Command made them sit up & take notice of WM without hesitation.
The folks who were in the audience for my talks to the Louisville and Cincinnati user groups know the one word reason for that reaction too, don’tcha?
Business Contacts Mobile won’t sync OTA. It’s something I had grown accustomed to, but now that Direct Push is here, apps that sync via cable-only seem very 1998 to me.
Finally, Business Contacts Mobile is largely read-only. Sure, I can update a contact’s info (altho I have to fully open the contact before can edit them) directly on the device, which then syncs when I’m cabled to the PC again. But the history is entirely read-only and severely limited to boot, which puts the final nail in the coffin for Business Contacts Mobile.
Sweet dreams…Business Contacts Mobile. RIP.
|| posted by chris under business, mobility, tech hand, thumbs down, utility belt || comments (11) || ||
I second that Chris
For myself it’s been a tough run of it trying to figure out if a service call should be a meeting, task, business project, project task? Each service call seemed to be entered differently by different people at different times.
In light of the potential I once seen with customizing it for verticals – I’d have to say that the fact that Business Projects or Project Tasks related to Bus. Projects won’t sync to the mobile device is a major short comming for us and our customers.
Also since BCM Mobile is as you say read only and viewing history of 10 items max per contact/account (that’s like a week or less of current activities). Heck I can remember that (without BCM Mobile) Let me enter info on the fly! Let me enter time onsite right there on the phone! Oh and if just a couple of those custom fields were on the phone? And if it did all this OTA (Direct Push style) then it would be nice.
Here is to hoping MS listens and adds these things in the next release
comment by techpoetry — June 12, 2007 @ 11:05 pm
What happened to “teh sexxay”? That blows dude, I was talking to a client today who’s interested in switching from Crackberry to WM6, and they need BCM (or at least public folders). What’s a geek to do?
comment by Tim Barrett — June 13, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
I’ll be posting my workaround solution to the loss of Biz Contacts Mobile in a day or so, so stay tuned.
comment by chris — June 13, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
[...] timing for Microsoft, what with the recent shellacking put on its older brother, Business Contacts for Pocket PC, right here at the [...]
pingback by welcome to the funcave » Suddenly Seeking Business Contacts for Smart Phone — June 16, 2007 @ 1:30 am
So Chris, Where is your promised workaround solution to the loss of Biz Contacts mobile? Are you like me and have tried Pocket Mirror Pro by Chapura or the Companionlink product? There are trade offs and it ain’t very pretty! MS has grown too large and lazy and their own competitive divisions within do not seem to coordinate the various releases very well…WM / Outlook / BCM, etc. Apps are cobbled together and pushed out the door without much thought about the end user experience. Don’t even get me started about the so-called, “integrated” Office Accounting app to BCM!
-THP
comment by Tim — June 26, 2007 @ 9:20 am
The most Awesome product that can be used as a data base and phone dialer and loggs calls from cell, will make a call from pc thru cell when connected by usb. Sync to cell and log calls from cell and pc. caller id on pc and brings up caller to make notes on when the phone rings.
can you guess? Outloook 97, you just have to get all traces of other outlooks from your system and out of the registery. go to tools, option, then check the call/phone box. I have begged them for years to bring this back into outlook to no avail, so now I plan on telling everyone. It is the best Business Manager out there and it actually works.
comment by donna shelton — June 30, 2007 @ 7:08 pm
@ tim:
The integration of Outlook, BCM, and MOA has actually worked very well here at the Funcave. And with just a couple of changes (which are already part of the new release of Business Contacts for Smartphone) I’d put BCM for PPC back on the Treo.
comment by chris — July 14, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
@ donna:
Thanks for reminding me about that feature! I used to use that way way back in the salad days of O97.
That was long before I’d ever seen a single (Not Responding) message in Outlook.
Ah…we were all so innocent then…
comment by chris — July 14, 2007 @ 1:47 pm
[...] After raking Business Contacts Mobile for Pocket PC over the coals recently, I promised to talk about my particular workaround. [...]
pingback by welcome to the funcave » Getting Over Business Contacts for Pocket PC — July 14, 2007 @ 3:55 pm
Hey there Chris,
I always enjoy checking into your site on occasion from up here in Denver, CO.
There is now great news for all of you mobile warriors such as myself who
have long lamented the lack of an easy way to synchronize your BCM Business
Contacts with your particular mobile device regardless of your mobile device
platform (WM, Palm, Blackberry, Symbian, etc.) Go to http://www.chapura.com and
check out their new “Folder Mirror” solution. This apparently graceful,
client side application maintains an ongoing, automatic, real-time synch
between all additional Outlook Calendar and Contact folders and the native
default Outlook Calendar and Contact folder which then flows through the
standard synch conduit to your device.
This will allow any platform of mobile device that already provides a synch
conduit to Outlook to be able to also synch with BCM. Because this works on
the PC client itself, it does not interfere with the particular device
manufacturer’s conduit synch software.
Chapura is top of the list in Outlook synchronization. They innovate and
their stuff actually works!
-THP
comment by Tim Peterson — August 1, 2007 @ 5:11 pm
For the last two years I have been using Outlook 2003 and my regular “contacts” syncs wirelessly with my TREO 700 (Palm version) perfectly fine.
But, it will not sync/download my contacts in “Business Contacts” or “Accounts in Business” contacts from Business Contact Manager for Outlook to the TREO.
Do I need to upgrade to 2007 Business Contact Manager for Outlook?
I assume I have to also upgrade to a new Treo (or similar device). I’m flexible with what device I should switch to —in fact I was even considering the IPhone– if there’s any capability of adding BCM to it.
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated
thanks, John
comment by john — May 19, 2008 @ 1:57 pm