A forthcoming mobile messaging service is set to offer businesses similar capabilities to RIM’s BlackBerry but at a fraction of the cost, and will also support standard mobile handsets. However, unlike BlackBerry, it will not integrate with existing infrastructure such as Exchange servers.
Simdesk’s SimMobile provides workers with messaging and collaboration, secure file sharing and mobile printing, and is compatible with over 600 phone handsets, according to the firm. The service will be launched at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, and is expected to be available from early April.
Initially, SimMobile will be available as a hosted service provided by carriers, but in the future the company aims to let enterprise customers operate a server behind their corporate firewall. It can operate on any handset that is Java J2ME compatible or supports the SyncML protocol, and the firm supplies a SyncML client for Windows Mobile devices. Users can also access their account via a desktop browser.
Simdesk said it is initially targeting small-to-medium organizations or public sector bodies, which may have held back from mobile messaging because of the cost. But it also expects that BlackBerry customers may see it as an attractive way to mobilize e-mail across more of their workforce. The service may cost as little as $5 per seat per month, compared with $60-$80 for BlackBerry, according to the firm.
“I’ve yet to see a company that’s willing to give a BlackBerry to all its employees, yet all of them want their employees to be able to keep in touch,” said Simdesk president and chief executive Louis Waters.
The service offers more than just mobile e-mail, enabling users to upload files to online folders for sharing with colleagues, and the ability to send files for output to shared printers in their organization.
But enterprises may not find the service to…