Gmail push comes to HiPhone, Windows Mobile,OPhone

On Tuesday, Google expanded the over-the-air syncing capabilities in its Google Sync service to include Google’s email, but only for the iPhone and iPod Touch (version 3.0), and for Windows Mobile phones.

Google Sync began as a beta service to sync Google calendar items and contacts to iPhone, Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 60 phones. Owners of iPhones, iPod Touches and Windows Mobile phones can now set it up to include Gmail messages as well.

The phones will receive Google Sync messages through their native email, calendar and address book apps. Depending on a user’s settings, their phone could vibrate and/or chime to let them know a new message has come in.

Note that Google Sync will not push visual notification boxes to iPhone and iPod Touch interfaces. For that, users will need third-party apps such as GPush for iPhone. Instead, it pushes email from the server to the phone, rather than pulls in a list of email messages, a request that the phone’s email client makes of the server.

BlackBerry and Nokia Symbian Series 60 users will not have access to pushed Gmail yet, but they can still sync calendar and contact events to the phone’s built-in address book and calendar.

To get started, visit the Google Sync website from your desktop or mobile browser. The step-by-step setup process is best navigated from a computer, and will require users to ultimately configure their phone to sync over the Microsoft Exchange Server.

Cell phone restrictions on the way

Drivers caught with one hand on the wheel and the other punching in numbers on their cell phones will soon be dialing up trouble with the law.

And that’s a good thing, say some local Portage la Prairie area residents.

“It’s become an obsession,” said Dan Werbiski, while stopping at Portage Mall on Monday. “What I want to know is ‘Why’? Is it necessary to use the cell all the time?”

The provincial government announced on Sept. 21 new legislation is coming in the first part of 2010 placing a ban on hand-held cell phone use and cell phone texting while driving. To be permitted to use a cell phone, drivers need to avail themselves of a hands-free device.

Jim Stanley agrees using a hand-held cell phone or texting while driving is dangerous.

“Anyone driving and talking at the same time should be given a ticket,” said the Langruth resident.

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Which Cell Phone Is Smartest for Business?

Many businesses depend on mobile phones that also browse the Web, send and receive e-mail, and use other applications. But how do you choose between not only BlackBerry and iPhone, but Google’s Android, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre and others?

Smartphones are big for small business. In fact, many mobile workers now depend on these all-in-one digital Swiss Army Knives that offer support for third-party applications, messaging, Web browsing, GPS navigation, media playback, and photo and video capture.

Oh, and they make calls, too.

But there are a growing number of different platforms on the market — including BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre and others — therefore deciding which one is best for your small or mid-sized business could be an overwhelming endeavor. So we turned to a couple of tech experts to discuss what a mobile worker should look for in a smartphone platform.

The basics

Smartphones are an increasingly popular choice for business use, but regardless which of which operating system you go with, the handset must meet a few key minimum requirements, says Scott Steinberg, publisher of Digital Trends.

“Battery life and wireless coverage are two big ones,” says Steinberg, who is based in Atlanta. “Because of all of its features and integrated wireless radios, smartphones can consume a lot of power, and the last thing you need is to be on the road or at a trade show and there’s only one bar left.”

As for coverage areas, which can greatly affect call quality and data speeds, Steinberg suggests to do your research by visiting the websites for carriers — such as Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint — and click on the map that shows coverage areas. “Many people assume the smartphone will work the same everywhere in the U.S., and elsewhere, but this is simply not the case,” he explains. “It’s also not a bad idea to talk to colleagues or friends on that network to hear first-hand about coverage, as the last thing you need is to be on the road and you can’t access your e-mail from client about a cancelled appointment.”

Ted Schadler, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based technology research firm, says before deciding which smartphone to invest in, figure out what applications your business requires and if they’re supported by the platform. “The horizontal app is e-mail, of course, but after that you’ll need to list any other apps you’ll want to run,” says Schadler.  A small or mid-sized business “will also work out the cost per device, how many you need for your staff, the cost of the data plan, and any device management software or mobile middleware you might need.”

Consider being device agnostic

Schadler, who has just published a report entitled Technology Populism Fuels Mobile Collaboration: When IT Supports Personal Mobile Phones, Mobile Collaboration Ensues, says the trend is moving towards a “bring your own smartphone” practice. In a survey completed by more than 2,300 IT decision-makers in the U.S. and Europe, one in four are now supporting an employee’s personal mobile device — so long as the applications are platform-agnostic and meets the company’s security protocols. The gotta-have-it iPhone from Apple is the “big disruptor” for this paradigm shift, says Schadler.

Deciding which smartphone platform to go, however, might be dependent on the industry you’re in, adds Schadler. If you’re in regulated industry — such as health care, pharmaceutical, insurance, or financial services — you might have strict privacy requirements, such as protecting customer data, remote wiping of device if the smartphone is lost or stolen, and so on. “There are many, many different kinds of policies in these industries so you have to be careful about which phones you’re supporting to ensure they meet regulatory compliance,” says Schadler.

“If you want managed devices, you really only have one choice, which is BlackBerry,” adds Schadler, “as RIM supports more than 450 policies — but it’ll cost you a license fee per month, per user.” He adds, “Otherwise, Windows Mobile and iPhone are basically free if you’re running Exchange.”

Steinberg agrees with Schadler on the additional requirements for any smartphone consideration. Your priorities should be “security and privacy issues must be addressed, support for enterprise-level e-mail, and whether or not you easily sync your data with a PC,” he says. “And depending on what you need, access to the company’s Twitter or Facebook account while on the road might be important or GPS to find your way to a meeting or wireless or on-demand software purchases at an app store.”

Pros and cons

The following are a few thoughts on each of the major smartphone operating systems:

• BlackBerry

Pros: Reliable, fast and secure “push” e-mail; physical keyboard in most models; good battery life; supports multiple accounts.

Cons: Browser not the greatest; App World doesn’t offer great selection or intuitive interface.

• Windows Mobile

Pros: Supported by the broadest range of devices; Outlook and other Windows programs sync smoothly with a PC.

Cons: Interface and stability issues; fewer apps than most other smartphones.

• iPhone

Pros: Elegant and intuitive touch interface; more than 65,000 apps in App Store (many of which are free); great consumer device.

Cons: No physical keyboard is obstacle for many; battery life trails other smartphones; still no MMS support in U.S.

• Android

Pros: Powerful and versatile open-source operating system; seamless presentation and access of online Google apps; good user-interface.

Cons: Not a lot of supported devices or software; Android Market not as intuitive as Apple App Store.

• Palm webOS

Pros: Open-source operating system anyone can develop for; can support multiple apps open at once; offers both physical keyboard and touchscreen.

Cons: Unproven for business because newest OS; poor selection of software and only one device (Palm Pre).

Google Voice Silenced by Apple on iPhone

Updated: Apple shuts the door on all Google Voice applications, including third-party applications that support search engine giant Google’s VOIP and telephony product, which is rolling out to more users. Google Voice duplicates some features in the iPhone, but analysts believe Apple’s chilliness also stems from its relationship with AT&T. Carriers dislike Google Voice because of the free SMS and cheap international calls it provides.

In a sign that Apple will not always play nice with Google, Apple has banned the Google Voice application, as well as third-party Google Voice applications, from its iPhone App Store, ostensibly because Google Voice features compete with those in the iPhone.

Reached by phone July 18, Apple spokesperson Jennifer Bowcock declined to comment, but a Google spokesperson confirmed the ban of Google Voice in a statement to eWEEK July 27:

Apple did not approve the Google Voice application we submitted six weeks ago to the Apple App Store. We will continue to work to bring our services to iPhone users—for example, by taking advantage of advances in mobile browsers.

The move was first reported by TechCrunch and there is additional coverage on TechMeme.

Earlier in the day on July 27, iPhone application developer Sean Kovacs said his popular application GV Mobile, which lets users make calls and send SMS (Short Message Service) messages from a Google Voice number to any other number in a contact list, was also removed from the App Store.

Kovacs wrote in his blog: “Richard Chipman from Apple just called—he told me they’re removing GV Mobile from the App Store due to it duplicating features that the iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS, etc). He didn’t actually specify which features, although I assume the whole app in general.”

VoiceCentral, which does the same thing GV Mobile does, was also banned from the App Store, but not until reporters asked Google about Google Voice did anyone learn that Google’s application had been give the cold shoulder as well.

While Apple is maintaining its silence on the subject, TechCrunch speculates that Apple’s treatment of Google Voice applications comes courtesy of sole iPhone carrier AT&T. Update: Daring Fireball’s John Gruber confirmed this through a source.

Phone companies are leery of Google Voice, which does an end run around their services by providing free SMS and cheap international calling services.

Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle acknowledged that Apple and AT&T would indeed have reason to shunt Google Voice to the side. Enderle told eWEEK:

With Google Voice, the competitive issue would exist with both Apple and AT&T because it reverses the strategy Apple has with iTunes and Safari on the PC (use them to pull customers to Apple products from Windows) to apply to the new Android phone platform and, since it is VOIP [voice over IP], it potentially cuts AT&T’s revenue stream as well.

More broadly, Enderle noted that programmers are having a hard time figuring out what applications will or won’t be accepted in the App Store, adding that Apple is showing a trend toward blocking or crippling applications that appear to be competing.

Enderle pointed to streaming music application Slacker, which is crippled on the iPhone and can’t be used on an airplane. However, Slacker works on a BlackBerry during flight just fine.

“Out here [in Silicon Valley], the metaphor used to describe Apple’s app approval process is ‘Russian Roulette,’” Enderle quipped.

The combination of a cryptic process and this anticompetitive behavior has some developers turning to write programs for Research In Motion’s BlackBerry operating system, Google’s Android OS and Palm’s Palm WebOS, Enderle said.

The banning of Google Voice and associated applications isn’t the first time Google has had to kowtow to Apple. Google introduced Google Latitude for the iPhone July 23, but must now rewrite it to be a Web application.

“After we developed a Latitude application for the iPhone, Apple requested we release Latitude as a Web application in order to avoid confusion with Maps on the iPhone, which uses Google to serve maps tiles,” Google Mobile Team Product Manager Mat Balez wrote in a blog post.

Apple’s chilliness toward Google’s Web services is interesting given Google’s supposed closeness with Apple. Analysts have long seen Google and Apple as linked arm and arm against enemy Microsoft, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt commands a seat on Apple’s board.

The question is how long Apple and Google will remain close as they continue along their competitive path regarding Web services for mobile phones.