off the Hook - 911s Chief Lotu...

Everyone knows the iPhone is great. Almost everyone wants one. But  for a business email user such as myself, you just can't beat the Blackberry for best-in-class messaging, calendar, and contact synchronization, and the J2ME model for custom applications is pretty powerful too.  The iPhone has some PIM options, but they all pale in comparison to the Blackberry. Why reinvent the wheel? In this world of increasing virtualization, how hard would it be to add Blackberry functionality to an iPhone, or at least emulate a Blackberry on an iPhone? Really? Both already run on the AT&T network, so that's conquered. Maybe I'm oversimplifying. It is late after all :-).

I've just completed a week at Lotus "Top Gun" training, which is targeted at  updating the IBM sales team and Business Partners on the latest innovations in the Lotus portfolio and strategic direction, including solutions such as Notes/Domino 8.0, the Sametime product family; Quickr 8.0; Lotus Connections; the Portal offerings, including Web Content Management & e-Forms; Lotus Symphony; the Mobile & Enterprise Access offerings; Dashboards, and more. It's amazing how much has changed since Lotusphere just a few months ago. Lotus has delivered significant updates to each of these products and I got to see under the hood of what is coming in the next few months.

Along those lines, Lotus 911 has conducted some Lotusphere Comes To You (LCTY) events in a few cities, but I'd like to offer a "LCTY, NO REALLY" event to those who may be interested. Essentially, my idea is to set aside a full-day (less if you prefer) to come visit you at YOUR location and share these updates, do live demos, and perhaps even help you break through some admin and/or development barriers you may have. I will be in the central Florida area the second half of this week and in Chicago next week, but I'm pretty open the weeks after. Drop me a line if this sounds like something that appeals to you.

I have used Yahoo for my personal email for the past 10 years or so. The recent discussions about Microsoft acquiring Yahoo had me thinking about where to move my personal mail to should that happen. Thankfully as of last night, it appears that deal will not be happening. But it does make me wonder what I would have done.

My first thought was of course Google, but I firmly believe that IBM Lotus and Google will find themselves in increasingly competitive situations over the next several years and I long ago swore I'd never go back to AOL or ever tie my personal email address to my "ISP du jour". There are plenty of free email services out there, but none of them appeal to me as much as my good old DWA 8.0 or Yahoo mail. So for now, I'll stay put, but (ahem IBM), it sure would be great to see Bluehouse offer free lighweight public mail services. I bet Amazon beats them to the punch though. :-)