So, one of the frequent readers of this blog, who has become a professional friend, was chastising me last week over email for not being a “real” enterprise mobility analyst. His one reason? I have been using an iPhone for the last few months. “No self-respecting ENTERPRISE mobility analyst would EVER use an iPhone” said he. If I were truly serious about ENTERPRISE mobility, I’d be using a BlackBerry, he continued.

We’re going back and forth via email and I get to the point where I just pick up the phone, ready to ask him whether he had gotten up on the wrong side of bed or not. Calmly and rationally – almost, dare I say, with Yoda-esque skill and mastery - I explained to him on the phone that this intrepid ENTERPRISE mobility analyst (that’s me, people) recognized many Endorian moons ago (I’m a dork) the reality of the consumerization of enterprise mobility. That means people want a device that fits both their professional and personal needs. As of now, I do believe that – even with all its warts – the iPhone does deliver the best consumer mobility experience out in the market.

For all the things I didn’t like about my iPhone (and there were a LOT), I loved the simple fact that I could check my email while working out at the gym while listening to my iPod. Now before you go telling me that most, if not all, smart phones can play MP3s, how many people do you know who use an iPod? There are a LOT. I, personally, am not a huge fan of having to use the media player in most smartphones because it’s not as convenient and slick as my iPod. In fact, I don’t know too many people who use the multimedia (non camera) capabilities of their smartphones – if it’s not an iPhone.

So back to me being Yoda-esque. I tell my friend – let’s call him “John” – that as an analyst, I need to study (like a Padawan) all the devices and platforms that are available in the market to be able to most skillfully understand and speak to all the subtle nuances of their strengths and weaknesses. The Jedi mind tricks worked. “John” soon offered to send me a shiny new Bold.

The timing was good, actually. I have been using my iPhone for three months and was itching for a new device (it’s the Aquarius in me). Plus, I had just returned from the Apple store where I had replaced my device for a 2nd time because the phone was only holding a charge for THREE hours in STANDBY mode! That’s crazy. Imagine if it were running background processes…that would have been like 30 minutes! ;-)

OK, so a couple of days later, the phone arrives. The concierge at my building just laughs at me when I come to get my package. He knows I am a phone/gadget freak and asks me how many phones I have used this calendar year alone. It’s only three before the Bold by the way.

I get home and, like a kid at Christmas, I rip open the package. I pop my SIM card into the Bold and call customer care at AT&T to switch me from the iPhone data plan to the BlackBerry data plan. Pow! All set. The rep kinda forgot to tell me though that the 10 voicemails I had on my iPhone would not be available on the Bold because the visual voicemail system is not compatible with the other system. Four letter words came to mind.

So I start the process of configuring my email. Because my company does not have a BES (more on that later), I try to set up a “personal” email address. Problem is, the option isn’t there. Call #2 to AT&T customer care. The kind lady walks me through the process to go to a URL to download a patch. Got that working and a few moments later I had emails coming to my Inbox. Repeat personal email configuration so I can also get my Hotmail.

So now my work email was working. I was back on “The Grid.” I went to my contacts to see if they were coming through OK. Oh, that’s right – no contact synchronization. I am using the BIS (BlackBerry Internet Service) and not the BES. There’s no over the air contact synchronization. There’s no over the air Calendar synchronization. More four letter words come to mind.  See my problem is, my life is dictated to me by what my calendar tells me I am supposed to be doing at that time. I have NO clue what I am doing unless my calendar tells me what to do. My personal life is the same. My ex-wife would always tell me what we were doing because I am clueless like that (again, an Aquarius thing).

It’s not that I can’t sync up my contacts and calendar to the Bold, but I have to do it manually and plug in my device into my PC and run the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. I also then realized that I’m only getting emails from my Inbox. Like most people, I have tons of folders with an almost equal number of rules set up in Outlook so that my Inbox isn’t flooded. Fortunately for me, most are client-side rules, which means they only work when the laptop is running. So, 90% of my emails come into my BlackBerry. But I have no sub-folders…no sent items. More four letter words are coming to mind.

So it got me thinking – you were wondering if I would EVER get to the title of this post. All these issues I have are well documented on the web and in fact, are some of the unique characteristics of the BIS and the value proposition of companies having a BES. Among other things, the BES does provide you the ability to OTA sync contacts and calendar, accept and send invites, as well as access the corporate address book. Not having OTA syncing of contacts and calendar is a MAJOR pain in the gluteus maximus for me – not having access to sent items or other mail folders is an almost equal hassle. No corporate directory is just annoying. I can work around that one pretty easily. Hell, I don’t know how people are OK with it, frankly.

What’s more, I work in a small company with less than 100 people. My colleague Andy Brown coincidentally just wrote a nice piece comparing the BES versus direct connect solutions such as ActiveSync. The problem with the BES is that it’s not free…and it’s not cheap either. If I were to tell the president of my company that he should go fork over a few grand - $6300 if I did my math correctly from reading Andy’s report - for 50 people to have BlackBerries, he’d just laugh at me. This is where ActiveSync’s value proposition really shines. It provides SMBs the opportunity for their employees to have completely synced PIM functionality for nothing more than the cost of the device and the data plan.

The BES is a great piece of technology. So is the BlackBerry NOC (even though I don’t like the fact that it’s a potential single point of failure). But in terms of wanting to create a compelling value proposition for the BES, I feel as if RIM has overly crippled the BIS solution and may in fact be doing itself a disservice! Here’s why.

Apple, Nokia, Palm and all the makers of Windows Mobile devices can tell SMBs (and all organizations for that matter) that their employees can have complete mobile PIM functionality at zero cost (again beyond the cost of the device and the data plan). With the BlackBerry, their users won’t have that feature parity without paying extra for the BES. Take it one step beyond a feature discussion and start talking about convenience, workflows, etc. and you start having a discussion that is at the core of what mobility can do for an organization. I wonder how often that message is conveyed. I have the impression it doesn’t happen as often as it could/should. My sense is it would resonate very well, especially in this economy. Are you hearing me Microsoft??? ;-)

So what is RIM to do? I’m not suggesting that BlackBerries aren’t selling well – heck it was the most popular device last quarter, even outselling the almighty iPhone. I’m talking about what RIM could do to blow the doors off this market. Bring OTA syncing to the BIS. This would instantly take away one of the merits of using non-BlackBerry devices and solidify the value of BlackBerry solutions for prosumers.

So what’s left for the BES to do? Plenty actually. Plenty for larger organizations that have hundreds if not thousands of people using BlackBerries.

I think RIM could still provide an incredibly compelling value proposition to the enterprise if the BES were positioned primarily (exclusively?) for mobile device management and application management. The latest BES has over 450 policies in place. That’s way more than what Microsoft’s SCMDM can do. Most IT administrators will also tell you that they prefer the BES’ management console over that of SCMDM. So basically, it can do more than what SCMDM can and it’s easier to do it. It also provides all the security you need (including S/MIME), as well as the ability to push out patches and applications, as well as all the other goodness you get from MDM and MAM solutions. These aren’t things that really MATTER to a SMB (unless you are a boutique law practice or financial house with TONS of cash), but they are critical to larger organizations.

So overall, while the BES has a very competitive and compelling value proposition when compared to the combination of ActiveSync and SCMDM for mobility management, I feel as if ActiveSync alone provides greater value to the consumer than does the BIS because of the OTA synchronization capabilities. I am intentionally not throwing personal device preference into the equation.

So there you have it. I have switched back to a BlackBerry. I haven’t used one in years, so I am getting used to it (and I even brought a couple of backup phones with me on this trip just in case I bork things). I’m excited. The Bold is an awesome device. Great voice quality and the battery – contrary to what I had heard – is a work horse! I’ll be writing a blog post in the next couple of days regarding my initial impressions of the device. Thanks again “John” for affording me the opportunity to continue my quest of studying all the devices and platforms that are available in the market to be able to most skillfully understand and speak to all the subtle nuances of their strengths and weaknesses. ;-)