KEY POINTS:
Smartphones are coming down in price in time for Christmas - great news for small businesses who arguably have the most to gain by escaping the office.
These phones get their "smart" moniker by providing computer-like applications, including calendaring and personal contact software and office applications.
These include
word processing, email and web browsing. The phones are moving mainstream now that more small businesses are familiar with syncing mobile email and using mobile data services.
So what's new? Well, prices are coming down and that matters a lot for a category of business devices traditionally priced at over $1000.
Palm, which has had good success in New Zealand with two $999 Palm Treo smartphones aimed at business users (one each for the Telecom and Vodafone networks), has released the Palm Treo 550V for the small-business and consumer market. At $749, the 550V is more than $200 cheaper than the other Treos yet offers a full range of business features, including a QWERTY keyboard under the screen for one-handed email and text entry, expandable memory through removable memory cards and great connectivity options, such as support for WiFi and Vodafone's 3G broadband services.
Palm has managed to get the price down by removing the touch screen found in the other expensive Treos, which won't matter to a lot of business users. Although the Treo 550V runs the Windows Mobile 6.0 operating system, it also has a user interface that sits in front of the Windows Mobile software.
Why bother? While Microsoft's Windows Mobile software poses a serious challenge to traditional smartphone operating systems like those from Palm, BlackBerry and Symbian, it's still pretty unfamiliar for the small business and the consumer market, so Palm is trying to ease new users into Windows Mobile with an interface that's more familiar.
A further entry to the market is the new range of HP iPaq smartphones.
HP, which has flown under the radar for some time when it comes to mobile devices, obviously decided that needed to change - its range of new iPaqs, which include the 912 Business Messenger and the 612 Business Navigator, are light, use an iPod-like thumbwheel for navigation, have a superior screen, and are backed by an Enterprise Mobility suite of software to make them easier to manage and secure for businesses with a server and a number of smartphones.
Of interest are the new iPaq's global positioning satellite (GPS) features, which are hitting the mobile platform in a big way overseas.
New Zealand company Rakon, which makes GPS-related parts for mobile phones, reports escalating demand from major phone makers for on-board GPS features, which are practical for businesspeople that travel or do outdoors or risky work. Smartphones with GPS included the Nokia N95 as well as the new iPaqs. Still to be released in New Zealand (but not far away says HP) the US$599 ($787) iPaqs also have WiFi support so that internet access is possible via a WiFi hotspot as well a mobile data service.
An attractive range of new smartphones that rather surprisingly don't have WiFi support are the three Okta devices, built by Chinese company HTC and branded by Telecom. Telecom's $799 Okta Touch is an impressive answer to the Apple iPhone and which, like the LG Prada KE850 and iPhone, is completely buttonless - using new touchscreen technologies so that almost all navigation and data input occurs through finger tapping.
However, while the Okta Touch is cool (most teenagers now think they have to have one), it doesn't have a physical keyboard, making its big brother the $999 Okta Boss, with a slide out keyboard and the Windows Mobile 6.0 operating system, a better business smartphone.
So does it matter which mobile provider you buy from? (Telecom, Vodafone and TelstraClear are the current small business options.) Once Telecom gets its new GSM network up and running, you'll be able to choose a smartphone by device rather than by carrier but, in the meantime, you can either buy a Vodafone-connected smartphone for 3G products, services include video calling, mobile television and music downloads (first check the smartphone model can access these services), or a phone on the Telecom CDMA-based 3G mobile network which offers similar services. The good news is that Telecom plans to support phones on this network for at least the next five years - including the present Okta range. However, if you use Telecom and do a lot of international travelling, you will need to buy or hire a world mode phone until Telecom can extend its global reach by partnering with GSM carriers around the world.