Power to go: get the benefits of a laptop in your handheld

Entrepreneur, June, 2004 by Amanda C. Kooser

Research in Motion's (RIM's) BlackBerry may be king of the hill when it comes to mobile business messaging and e-mail, but Good Technology is breathing down RIM's neck with its new GoodLink 3.0 messaging software. Good describes it as "laptop power for Palm OS and Pocket PC smartphones:" Owners of said devices will be the ones most interested in this. Aimed at businesses, GoodLink uses a laptop-style visual interface to deliver multitasking application switching and support for rich attachments like Adobe Acrobat, PowerPoint and Word files. For administration, it features ease-of-use improvements over prior versions, strong encryption, and Web-based monitoring and troubleshooting.

The GoodLink system isn't for everybody. The software works with Microsoft Exchange Server and costs $330 per user per year. Entrepreneurs heading up businesses with large mobile work forces are good candidates. Sales personnel who are often on the road can make use of the messaging, e-mail and document support without having to lug laptops around. It would also be a natural step up for businesses that already use PDA phones extensively but would like to expand their capabilities. Visit www.good.com for more information, or have your IT manager check into implementing it.