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BlackBerry vs. Treo: E-mail on the go

By Vikas Bajas
The Dallas Morning News

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Andy Lombard and Sid Leever are the yin and yang of the wireless e-mail generation.

Lombard, chief executive of a Dallas telecom company, is a hard-charging corporate type for whom e-mail is a must. Leever, a principal at an Irving, Calif., pre-media and creative-services company, needs to see his e-mail frequently but not incessantly.

Lombard carries a BlackBerry phone from Research in Motion. Leever has a Treo 600 from palmOne.

Even as manufacturers stumble over themselves to introduce smart phones, the market for devices that artfully handle e-mail boils down to these two devices, experts and users say. Both have amassed followings that, though small today, are rapidly growing.

"There is no one else out there," said Jack Gold, an analyst with Meta Group. "That's the bottom line."

That won't be true for long because others are eager to get a piece of this growing segment.

Two devices Treo 600 Manufacturer: palmOne Lineage: Treo 300 and the Palm personal digital assistant family Price: $449 to $499 Resellers: Sprint PCS, AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile USA Use: Customers typically download software to the phone, which retrieves e-mail periodically. Phone companies and third-party software developers also offer server options for corporate users. BlackBerry smart phones Manufacturer: Research in Motion Lineage: RIM 950, a pager-size e-mail device Price: 224.99 to $499.99. Resellers: AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile USA, Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communications Use: Corporations typically use a BlackBerry server that "pushes" e-mail to users. Customers who don't buy a server can set up e-mail service via a Web portal. Source: Dallas Morning News research

For now, the world is divided into Treo and BlackBerry users — two groups that have similar aims but different priorities.

Treo users are drawn to the 600 by its clean, streamlined design. They note that the thumb-operated keyboard and screen are well proportioned and a big improvement over the Treo 300. They retrieve and send e-mail messages, but mostly they talk on the devices.

"To me, this thing was a phone first," said Leever, one of three founders at C3 Premedia Solutions. "If I am going to write a long e-mail, I open up my laptop. To me, this is to stay in touch with the customers so I can get their e-mail and then write a two-sentence response."

The Treo, which Leever uses on the Sprint PCS network, is his primary means of communications because he travels frequently — he estimates he spends 100 to 120 nights a year in hotel rooms. A software application, SnapperMail, sits on his Treo and fetches his e-mail, 12 messages at a time, from his server periodically through the day.

It's a setup that wouldn't work for Lombard, who has grown reliant upon the BlackBerry's ability to stay in constant synchronization with his Microsoft Outlook Inbox, calendar and contacts back at his desk.

"My personal productivity, with the device, has increased tenfold," said Lombard, chief executive of Airband Communications. When "I am traveling or out of office, I am real-time updated with everything. When I get back into the office, I don't have to blast through e-mail."

Lombard says the screen and keyboard were too small, but he liked the design and fit of the device for phone use, calling it "about the best I have ever seen."

He acknowledges that the boxy BlackBerry, which he uses on the AT&T Wireless network, is not that appealing as a phone, but he says it works acceptably. Leever had the same complaint about the RIM device, which he said was "still a little large."

Gold said the BlackBerry, which has been around longer, has established a niche in the corporate world because RIM sells companies a sophisticated server that connects to their internal networks. Law firms, consulting groups and large corporations that sign up for the service often won't allow their employees to use rival devices such as the Treo.

By contrast, palmOne, which comes out of the Palm handheld world, makes its living by selling devices and largely leaves it to its cellphone partners and third parties to come up with the rest, Gold said. This makes the Treo more appealing to small businesses and consumers who can't afford the cost or complexity of a server.

RIM sold 480,000 BlackBerry devices in the three months ended May 29. (The number includes e-mail-only models in addition to phone combos.) palmOne sold 151,000 Treos in the three months ended May 28.

But neither of these dynamics is likely to last. Microsoft is getting into the business by aggressively building wireless e-mail capabilities into its new Exchange server, and Nokia and palmOne have said they will soon license RIM's software.

"This is going to continue to be a battle," Gold said. "And it's not going to be a battle just between BlackBerry and Treo."

That should be a boon for consumers and corporate users.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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