You know you’ve changed platforms when…. (Tilt-0, iPhone-1)

I was at the AT&T store the other day to buy the new Tilt (aka HTC Kaiser, HC TYTN 2). I bought it, I tried, it, I returned it. It is a good device but it is not for me… at least not any more. There is too much about the iPhone that I cannot give up. Don’t get me wrong, the Tilt is amazing. Having used the Imate Jam, the Imate KJam, and the HTC TYTN it is light years ahead of its predicessors. But after using a three and a half inch screen, the amazing interface and the smooth speed of the iPhone for a month now I cannot go back to windows mobile. No way. No how. Sorry Bill.

But that is not the story of this entry. The story here is that when I was at AT&T to get the Tilt the AT&T employee, said to me,
“Yeah, the iPhone is a fun phone and a cool media device, but it is not a work phone. For work you need a blackberry or windows mobile”. Not true. Yet again and again that is what I hear from people. In fact it is what I used to say when my friends were shocked that I wasn’t standing on lone for the phone on release day. I thought it was a media player but not for serious work. I got it as a secondary phone. Well, I was wrong then. And the AT&T guy is wrong now. The iPhone can be an excellent work device…..

BUT

To make it work requires a total change in mindset. The device is so different that to really leverage ita power requires an entirely new approach. Think of of this way…. To make the iPhone a work phone one has to think of it on terms of being a web 2.0 device. Let me explain. Outlook mobile is fine. It works. But since it is resident on the device, and the iPhone does not support it, is not an option. But you don’t need it. You dont need it because the iPhone is meant to be a largely web based device that has leap-frogged over the need for outlook mobile. This is even more the case with the recent lock down caused by the 1.1 update. As an outlook device it is a non-starter. But as a largely web device it is one INCREDIBLY powerful device.
BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE OPEN TO LOOKING AT THINGS IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT. The next few posts are examples of what I have been doing to make these changes… and why it is now my only phone/data device…..