Pretty much everyone in my industry has a BlackBerry. Many of us quickly learned that the difference between a BlackBerry and other handhelds is that a BlackBerry is a tool, whereas most handhelds begin as tools and eventually become toys. Human beings get bored of toys pretty quickly, which explains why we see loads of bells and whistles in handhelds to keep the demand reasonably fresh. Companies who make these products are getting sick of the short product life cycles and the high costs associated with designing new devices. It’s obvious why handheld PCs haven’t really taken off in a massive way, even though they have huge potential.

Let’s face it: It’s cumbersome to sync your daily activities by dumping the device into a cradle. Most people find it difficult to “type” with a pen. Wi-Fi on a PDA may be cool, but that means you need to be near a hotspot to do anything. And although they’re getting better on BlackBerry, most PDAs’ cellular phone features currently suck.

Voodoo chose BlackBerry in order to get our email synced live with our Exchange server and avoid duplication. Ultimately what this means is we have our email synced, including folders, calendars, and contacts, no matter where we go, no matter which device we use. I can check my email on my laptop or desktop using any Web browser, or on my BlackBerry, and all my folders are the same. It synchronizes wirelessly because we got the BlackBerry Exchange Server add-on for our mail server.

With BlackBerry Exchange Server, for example, your assistant can enter a new contact in Outlook, and whether you’re in the next room at your desk or in another country with your BlackBerry, the contact will appear instantly. Just click a button, and your BlackBerry automatically dials the contact using the number entered on the other end.

The price tag for this kind of efficiency? It cost Voodoo around $2,500 for five users, which at the end of the day is bloody expensive, but we had to do it.

Microsoft probably realizes that the majority of people who buy Pocket PCs become bored with them over time and end up with oversized MP3 players. Handheld PCs really make little or no sense unless they are used for specific applications with specific software--but that’s all about to change.

Microsoft isn’t stupid. It sees that one of Research In Motion’s biggest revenue generators is its BES software package. Instead of fighting RIM on price, Microsoft decided to launch a free service pack for Exchange that enables all the features that the BlackBerry Exchange software uses. The difference is, Microsoft’s “patch” will enable the new Microsoft Pocket PC devices to sync wirelessly.

You no doubt noticed that Microsoft recently courted Palm and its Treo handheld. (Or was it Palm courting Microsoft?) Who knew that Palm could potentially dump its OS in favor of Microsoft’s? It makes perfect sense to me because it’s a no-brainer to use and looks exactly like Microsoft Office. Microsoft also worked with Motorola on its upcoming Q handheld which, judging by the pictures, is a work of art. If you ask me, Motorola knows more about making cellular phones than RIM does, and with the help of Microsoft, they’ll quickly school up on how to build a PDA.

I’m not sure if RIM saw this coming. I tried contacting the company a while ago about a product idea I had, but it fell on deaf ears; no one ever got back to me. With Microsoft now in direct competition, it’s likely that there’s no long-term future in the server software business for RIM. In all likelihood this could be another Netscape-like situation. There is still hope, however, if RIM plays its cards right and aligns with the one company that openly challenges Microsoft (hint: its name begins with the letter G), you just never know. Based on the RIM nonresponse to my emails, I’m not sure that they’re thinking along similar lines. However, RIM is truly a pioneer; let’s just hope the company isn’t stuck in its day-to-day success and that it starts swimming in the “blue ocean” soon before it’s too late.

Send comments to Rahul@cpumag.com.