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The Best (Most Useful) Mobile Apps for your BlackBerry 8900, Tour or 9630

I'm convinced that every US technology journalist has an iPhone.  By stealthy means Apple dominates the mobile technology news.  But have you noticed how so much of the hype is focused on flash in the pan novelty applications that are opened once and quickly forgotten.  Developers focused on BlackBerry do well to concentrate on "Usefulness".  Some journalists seem to have their back turned on the extraordinary useful apps available on BlackBerry devices.  

Here are the best and most useful BlackBerry apps I regularly use on BlackBerry 8900 (Tour and 9630):

Prompt - The GPS Calendar (Daily / hourly usage) that tells you when to hit the road so arrive on time every time.  Prompt is a godsend for road warriors.  For Prompt on BlackBerry AppWorld click here

TinyTwitter I have tried a few Twitter clients, is the best so far for me. I enjoy following Richard Branson, Stephen Fry, Jonathon Ross, Jack Walsh and John Cleese. Also following the buzz on my company Proxpro at @proxpro.

Facebook (daily usage) is much improved from the 8800 version.  I wish under the "Friends" icon the status pop up would stay visible for longer than 2 seconds.  With postings longer than 140 characters you have to speed read which is unnecessary. Available at BlackBerry Appworld click here

 

Open Table (monthly) I tried to convince Open table to create a mobile up back in 2005/6.  At the time a mobile strategy wasn't a priority.  I'm glad the app is now available.  Click here for BlackBerry AppWorld

 

Intelligolf (weekly usage) for golf fanatics is the best solution.  I've been using this for 3 years.  I think Intelligolf, by making the recording of stats so easy, has improved my game by 5 strokes.  To have distance for each club and most frequent misses has helped me to focus on weaknesses.  I can also measure the couching improvement of my PGA club professional.  Available at BB AppWorld click here

 

Google Search, maps, gmail and news of course. 

Work in progress.  I'll add more useful apps as I find them.

The Best Apps for your BlackBerry Bold

The App icon real estate on your BlackBerry Bold is valuable property.  Only the 18 best or most useful apps win this visibility.  Others lurk below the fold or in the applications folder, but they don't meet the usefulness criteria.  Here are my choices what are your favorites?

The best New Apps:

Proxpro Prompt v1.1.2 (of course) - GPS Calendar - it is simply the most useful GPS application for business.  Punctuality is a cardinal virtue for all professionals.

FaceBook v1.6.0.17 - they've improved interactivity no end
Google Mobile Search / Maps / News - still the best for long tail searches
EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour (R) 09 - Great golf game on Nintendo Wii but good enough on BB
The Weather Network - easy local weather look-up
BlackBerry AppWorld - Growing fast
TinyTwitter - I'm new to TinyTwitter but it's seems easier than Twitter website.
Intelligolf - For Golf yardage and stats it's the oldest and the best

7 BlackBerry Native Apps: email, Phone, Contacts, Browser, Apps Folder, camera and calendar - forget all the rest (waste of space)

Which apps do you cherish?  Which apps deserve prime real estate on your BlackBerry Bold phone?

 

The Future of Mobile? Where to look...

There is much discussion in the press and the mobile community as to whether or not Apple will take enterprise market share from RIM.  In the medium term it does not really matter if, at the margin, Apple substitutes BlackBerry, or vice versa.

In the past we looked at Europe, S. Korea or Japan as a vision of the future.  Now we look at Apple's App Store or some even better apps available on BlackBerry.  With falling prices and increased features the speed with which the consumer markets adopt, Apple, BlackBerry, Android, Symbian or Windows becomes a key factor that drives growth in the industry.

Companies that earn a place on the open OS deck in the short run, have a huge opportunity in the long term.

Update July 23rd, 2008

AT&T published their results today highlighting a 52% surge in data revenues.  Underlying this trend is an 10% increase in smart phone and integrated device adoption, up to 18% of their customer base from 8% one year ago.  A very smart strategy from AT&T.

Julian Bourne
CEO & Founder
Proxpro Inc.
NEVER BE LATE!  Download Prompt at www.proxpro.com on BB 8800 and Curve.  USA and Canada only.
"A service more intelligent and resourceful than anything we've seen before.  Super-Cool"  (MobileMessenger2.0)

iPhone envy

The London Times reports (July 5, 2007) that American companies are resisting "iPhone device envy":

"American companies have already sent e-mail circulars warning... (employees) that they do not intend to offer iPhones as company devices, suggesting that BlackBerry's core corporate market could prove immune to the hype surrounding Apple's latest gadget.
Meanwhile, RIM has retaliated by stepping up its assault on the so-called "prosumer" market through the Curve, its latest handset, which is designed to appeal to consumers as well as professionals."

Not all corporate IT departments will resist.  With next generation iPhones with GPS and push email, it will become increasingly difficult.

Update July 11, 2007

According to MACWorld.co.uk iPhone users can now access push-email without distressing their corporate IT departments:

The move means mobile operators and service providers will be able offer mobile synchronization using Exchange to business users and prosumers.

This means iPhone users will be able to safely access corporate emails without causing IT managers to open the firewall or install additional software.

The company claims Mobile Gateway, "seamlessly integrates with the corporate IT infrastructure and does not require the enterprise to expose IMAP and SMTP in their Exchange servers or install additional connectors".

Blackberry's intense focus on the mobile prosumer

Rhys Blakely, Times Online, reports on the latest Blackberry prosumer device, will be priced very competitively ($200) against the Treo P700 ($299 on Verizon wireless) and iPhone $499-599 (exclusively on AT&T).   Once again an indication of the commoditization of the smart phone market.

Research In Motion has unveiled the smallest BlackBerry device to carry a full keyboard so far as it tries to secure more of the smartphone market ahead of an assault on the sector by Apple’s iPhone.

The new BlackBerry Curve is fitted with a two-megapixel camera with a built-in flash and a full-screen viewfinder – and a photo-editing feature. When its users aren’t playing music and videos (it has a 3.5mm stereo headset jack), they can even make voice calls and send e-mails.

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Like the Pearl, the Qwerty-equiped Curve is aimed at bridging the gap between professional users and consumers - the so-called “prosumer” market.

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The move, also designed to boost the BlackBerry network's credentials as a consumer service, and not just a tool for deal-making lawyers and bankers, came as mobile services fast emerge as the next battleground for internet groups.

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RIM has not announced a price for the Curve. It is expected to cost about $200 (£100) in the US – though mobile operators are likely to heavily subsidise the device and offer it for free with some contracts.

The device, weighing 110 grams, is 10.6cm long by 6.1cm wide, and 1.52cm deep.

Verizon and Sprint begin to embrace mobile prosumers - lest the iPhone snatch them away

At the turn of the year Proxpro predicted that during 2007 the mobile prosumer would move from niche to main stream.  Although smart phone devices are already successfully exploiting this segment, the carriers, structured strictly consumer and enterprise, have not focused on the prosumer's needs.

Things are changing.  Verizon Wireless' latest TV ad,  broadcast on Fox, after American Idol and midway through Hugh Laurey's hit show "House" is unmistakably  focused at the  mobile prosumer.  Co-promoting the Treo P700, an attractive professional woman accesses messaging, calandar and weather.  Hundreds of Verizon technicians attend her every need as she sends a powerpoint presentation to a colleague in a meeting, arranges an excursion to the aquarium for her kids and books an appointment at the spa.

The copywriters have excelled showing the importance of the mobile phone as a lifestyle device for professionals.  The voiceover, accompanied by a jazz riff, declares: "...Work, family and everything in between is right at your finger tips...it's the perfect device for the business of your life."

Sprint also is turning their attention to the mobile prosumer:

"While many of the emerging location services are focused on consumers, many different applications are used by service fleets to help keep drivers from getting lost or from making unneeded trips, said Mary Foltz, director of wireless data business solutions at Sprint Nextel Corp. The lines between business and consumer applications are blurred with location services, because businesses might buy services such as restaurant-finding technology for executives, she said." ( www.computerworld.com)   

With iPhone / AT&T partnership launch approaching, Verizon and Palm have much to lose.  A focus on the mobile  prosumer makes sense, as the iPhone will be targeted initially at consumers.  Proxpro has well over 2,000 prosumer customers now, our customer surveys indicate the software prosumers want, but many of them covet the iPhone too.  More work is needed on prosumer software, amongst the carriers, and even at Apple.  Text "Go" to 47769 (4PROX) to try Proxpro for free. 

Samsung get serious about the prosumer

Samsung get serious about the prosumer, reported by www.theunwired.net :

"And one more from Samsung! During a press event yesterday, Samsung Electronics Germany unveiled, that it plans to release 6 new (and so far unanounced) Windows Mobile 6 smartphones in 2007!

According to Samsung Manager Norbert Strixner, "the classical German mobile phone market has finally reached a kind of market saturation. However, Samsung sees an increasing demand for smartphones in the prosumer and even consumer segment".

Therefore, Samsung has no plans to launch camera-less smartphones, targeting the professional segment only.

According to Strixner, all new Windows Mobile smartphones (it's not clear if these are Windows Mobile Standard or Professional smartphones), which will be available from summer this year, will has Windows Mobile 6 and a improved camera resolution."

Blackberry focus on Prosumer software

David Meyer, ZDNet UK, reports that the range of application available on Blackberry devices is expected to expand.  Further evidence of a Prosumer trend Proxpro predicted click here :

"The latest iterations of RIM's smartphone platform, in particular the BlackBerry Pearl, have been more geared than their predecessors towards non-corporate applications. The Pearl even had a camera, and the introduction of an application programming interface (API), to notify applications when a picture is taken, would suggest that this will be a continuing trend."

"What may still surprise seasoned RIM-watchers, however, is the planned support for a 3D graphics API, to "enable more powerful gaming and rich-media content"--a fresh sign, if one were needed, of RIM's shift into the "prosumer", or professional consumer, market.