A set of .NET Classes which allows full read/write access to the Appointments, Contacts, and Tasks features of Pocket Outlook.
* * *
Tools
WINNER
Visual Studio .NET
Microsoft Corporation
www.microsoft.com
Development suite for rapid development of applications for Microsoft Windows, the Web, and mobile devices.
Finalists
AppForge MobileVB
www.appforge.com
This developer utility integrates directly into Visual Basic 6.0 and lets you create applications using VB extentions that will run on Pocket PCs.
eMbedded Visual C++
www.microsoft.com
A development system offering the native code C++ compiler for Windows CE-based development, targeting all current devices based on Windows CE 2.11 and higher, including the Smartphone 2002, the original Pocket PC, the Pocket PC 2002, plus Handheld PC Professional, and Handheld PC.
Visual CE
www.syware.com/prodlib/win_ce/vce/vce.htm
A fully relational database with an unlimited number of forms.
* * *
Utilities
WINNER
Entrek Toolbox
Entrek Software, Inc.
http://www.entrek.com
Tools to detect common runtime errors as well as analyze and fine-tune application software.
Finalists
Pocket Controller-Enterprise
www.soti.net
This application allows administrators to manage and support mobile devices remotely from a central location.
* * *
Enterprise Mobility Awards
While the most exciting case studies are of high-profile clients and well-recognized brands, the most innovative and ROI-generating solutions are often developed and deployed "under the radar" by small- or medium-sized businesses or developers. For this year's Pocket PC magazine's Best Software Awards, we recognize the best of these solutions in several vertical and horizontal categories. Pocket PC magazine and the Pocket PC Summit have teamed up with the Mobile Development Association (www.mobiledev.org) to facilitate these enterprise awards. Instead of going solely to the developer, as do the other software awards, each of these Enterprise Mobility Awards is granted to the deploying organization, the system integrator, the hardware manufacturer, and the software developer. This allows highly customized and/or integrated solutions to be eligible for nomination.
Solutions based on any Windows Mobile or Windows CE device, including Pocket PCs, Smartphones, Handheld PCs, and CE.NET devices, were eligible.
Retail
WINNER
FieldTrac
Deployed by: Chuck Latham Associates; www.clareps.com
Developed by: Extended Systems;
www.extendedsystems.com
Integrated by: Unique Solutions; www.unisolinc.com
In order to deliver timely retail merchandising information to their vendor clients, Chuck Latham Associates (CLA), a leading retail merchandising and marketing firm within the pet products industry, has equipped field representatives with a mobile solution developed by Unique Solutions and powered by Extended Systems' mobile data management and synchronization technology. The solution enables the field representatives to collect inventory, product display, and other merchandising information on their mobile devices during site visits. Replacing a paper- and fax-based system, the application was designed to improve in-store presence, increase marketing reaction times and, ultimately, increase sales for CLA clients.
* * *
Healthcare
WINNER
Patient Point Mobile Charge Capture
Deployed by: HealthServe!; www.informationequity.com
Developed by: MobiHealth; www.mobihealth.org
PatientPoint Mobile Charge Capture is an application that allows a healthcare provider to start the charge process from a handheld device at the point of care. Once a service or a procedure has been completed, the physician can call up the procedure and its billing code and send that data directly to the billing application for bill generation. The benefits range from ease of use to integration of the appropriate applications, resulting in fewer errors, reduced manual effort, and increased cash flow.
* * *
Knowledge Management
WINNER
mExperience
Deployed by: Netlano Services, Inc.; www.netlano.com
Developed by: TrueContext; www.truecontext.com
TrueContext's mExperience enables the enterprise, mobile operators, and managed service providers to offer mobile employees the distribution, sharing, and management of enterprise content. Simple to use, deploy, and administer, it allows for the secure distribution and management of enterprise content (e.g., software, documents, files) both to and from mobile devices such as laptops and Pocket PCs without having to rely on messaging platforms or Web sites.
* * *
Education
WINNER
Education Virtual Assistant (EVA)
Deployed by: Bowie High School, Austin, Texas
Developed by: Black Diamond Technology; www.blackd.com
EVA provides critical student data to K-12 administrators wherever they are. At Bowie High School, it is used by the principal, assistant principals, counselors, management coordinator, and security officer. It runs on their Pocket PCs and automatically interfaces with their student information system.
* * *
WINNER
Contraband Enforcement Automated Inspections Report
Deployed by: U.S. Customs and Border Protection; www.customs.gov
Developed by: SI International; www.si-intl.com
SI International identified Microsoft's Pocket PC Phone Edition as a prime candidate for streamlining the effectiveness of U.S. Customs Contraband Enforcement Teams (CETs) around the country and, in particular, the CET located at the Miami International airport. Building on the Pocket PC Phone Edition platform, their solution allowed CET inspectors to capture inspections, receive BOLO ("Be On the LookOut") alerts, communicate between teams via phone calls, and use SMS messaging. Additionally, it did all this using a lightweight, compact device, minimizing the need for inspectors to carry additional cumbersome equipment.
* * *
Hospitality
WINNER
JiHi (Just in-time Housekeeping integrated)
Deployed by: Pacific Terrace Hotel, San Diego, California www.pacificterrace.com
Developed by: Palm Hospitality Technologies, Inc.; www.palm-ht.com
Palm HT's JiHi software manages a hotel's maid/housekeeping scheduling, mini-bar operations, and guest and maintenance requests. This wireless operation management system (WOM) can function in over 250 languages simultaneously. JiHi is deployed over a wireless network, and gives staff, using Pocket PCs, real-time information about the status of all rooms, and about guest and maintenance requests. It also shows management the location of the staff at all times.
* * *
Field Force Automation
WINNER
FSA (Field Service Automation)
Deployed by: The ICEE Company; www.icee.com
Developed by: Interlink Group; www.theinterlinkgroup.com/
Countermind; www.countermind.com
Integrated by: Tolt Technologies; www.tolt.com
The FSA system automates the formerly manual process of receiving, updating, and capturing service information in the field. This solution includes integration into an existing Visual Basic Customer Service System used by ICEE's remote workforce. FSA provides an intuitive, easy-to-use mobile application through which customer service representatives can dispatch service order information directly to the appropriate field technicians. The FSA solution includes ruggedized handheld devices from Symbol Technologies which are water-resistant and durable enough to withstand drops during service calls.
* * *
Constr
uction
WINNER
InSite
Deployed by:
Public Works Department, Island County Washington
www.islandcounty.net/publicworks
Developed by: Aurigo Software Technologies; www.aurigo.com
InSite offers a solution to manage the design and construction phases in a single suite. This powerful solution helps to prepare construction cost estimates and connects with an enterprise's project team anytime, regardless of organizational or geographical boundaries.
* * *
Distribution
WINNER
Mobile Accounting System
Deployed by: Krispy Kreme; www.krispykreme.com
Developed by: Velocitor Solutions; www.velsol.com
The Krispy Kreme Mobile Accounting System is a robust and efficient solution, developed to enable route delivery personnel to fulfill and process orders electronically at the point of sale. Velocitor Solutions worked closely with the Krispy Kreme team to design, develop, and implement a Mobile Accounting System to replace the current manual processing of deliveries.
* * *
Winners of the 2003 Pocket PC Community Outstanding Achievement Awards
Each year we give awards to individuals and organizations whose extraordinary contributions benefit the entire Pocket PC community. That community includes end users, developers, Webmasters, retailers, publishers, device manufacturers, carriers, and Microsoft, all of whom contribute and benefit from the others' efforts.
2001 and 2002 Winners
The first year, in 2001, we gave these awards to Webmasters Dale Coffing (pocketpcpassion.com); Jason Dunn (pocketpcthoughts.com); and Chris De Herrera (cewindows.net) for their outstanding and helpful Sites. We also awarded Pocket PC evangelist Derek Brown of Microsoft.
In 2002 we honored Microsoft MVPs—independent volunteers who give their time to support users; HP for growing the industry with over 2 million iPAQs sold; Pocket PC evangelist Beth Goza of Microsoft; and Mark Winstanley and John Tidwell of the Pocket PC Summit.
This Year's Winners
This year three of the winners are retailers, responsible for the widespread distribution of devices, software, and accessories. Handango (handango.com, LauraRippy, CEO) and Pocket Gear (pocketgear.com, Nathan Miller, CEO) have each partnered with hundreds of Windows Mobile software developers to provide end users with reliable, one-stop Sites for purchasing a variety of reasonably priced software.
Handango and PocketGear provide end users great information at their online catalogs about how to increase their Pocket PC and Smartphone enjoyment and productivity. At the same time, by handling the order-fulfillment logistics and marketing for mostly small software developers, developers can spend their time doing what they do best: develop!
The other retailer honored this year is Mobileplanet (mobileplanet.com, Philippe Pastor, CEO). Mobileplanet sells Pocket PC devices and accessories. Visit their Web site, or read their print catalog. You'll see that MobilePlanet really knows their stuff. Their reputation for service and support is excellent, which explains their longevity: We've followed them with our various publications since the early 1990's.
Nathan Clevenger, founder of the Mobile Development Association (MDA, mobiledev.org) and Clevrware (clevrware.com) is the recipient of the final award. Nathan, through the MDA, his company, articles in Pocket PC magazine, speaking at trade shows, leading the Enterprise Deployment awards, and elsewhere has evangelized tirelessly for years about the value of mobile computers in the Enterprise.
A big THANK YOU goes to all of these winners past and present.
* * *
Pocket PC magazine Board of Experts 2003
We owe a huge debt to the following Pocket PC experts. Over 600 Pocket PC, Smartphone, Developer, and Enterprise Deployment products in 100 categories were nominated for the Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards 2003. Windows Mobile experts from around the world agreed to judge and to select winners for each category. These experts are authors of Pocket PC books, Pocket PC magazine contributors, Microsoft Pocket PC MVPs, Pocket PC magazine support forum contributors, and associates of top Pocket PC Web sites.
Pocket PC magazine wishes to thank each of these individuals. We invite you to visit their Web sites. Collectively, our experts invested thousands of hours putting the software titles through their paces. You will find their comments about the winners and nominees published in subsequent issues of Pocket PC magazine during 2004.
Thank you, experts!
Tari Akpodiete
www.pocketrocketfx.com
Saar Avigour
www.pocket.co.il
Rob Borek
www.pocketpcone2one.com
Daron Brewood
www.tekguru.co.uk
Chris Brunskill
smartphone.modaco.com
Dave Burrows
www.pocketgps.co.uk
David Ciccone
www.mobilitytoday.com
Giorgio Cifani
www.cifani.it
Nathan Clevenger
www.clevrware.com
Tom Cochrane
www.pocketpcportal.com
Dale Coffing
www.pocketpcpassion.com
David Conger
www.davespda.com
Christophe Cordonnier
www.smartphonefrance.info
Chris De Herrera
www.cewindows.net
Helio Diamant
www.pocketpcfreak.com
Jason Dunn
www.pocketpcthoughts.com
Jen Edwards
www.pocketgoddess.com
Tomer Eisner
www.handystore.co.il
Joel Evans
www.geek.com
Andrew Farkas
James Fee
www.aximsite.com
Christian Forsberg
www.businessanyplace.net
Allen Gall
www.pocketpcmag.com
Zoran Galovic
www.dotnetembedded.com
Gary Garland
www.gadgetaddict.com
Ed Hansberry
www.pocketpcthoughts.com
Arne Hess
www.ppcw.net
David Hettel
www.geekzone.co.nz
Tim Hillebrand
Greg Hilton
www.pocketpcsoft.net
Steven Hughes
www.bostonpocketpc.com
John Hung
Young Joo
www.aximsite.com
Bob Katayama
www.technobrains.com
Shawna Kelly
www.artzest.com
Matt Keys
www.pocketmatrix.com
Chris Leckness
www.aximsite.com
Chee Wee Lee
www.ppcsg.com
Robert Levy
www.smartphonethoughts.com
Elisabeth Liddell
www.foxpop.co.uk
Steve Lundstrom
www.pocketpcthemes.com
Bob Madry
Julio Meneses
www.mipcdebolsillo.com
John Mierau
www.compu2go.com
Matthew Miller
www.pdageek.com
Geoffrey Moehl II
www.pocketpclife.co.uk
Paul O'Brien
http://smartphone.modaco.com
Jenneth Orantia
www.jenneth.into
Lee Osborne
www.pocketpclife.co.uk
John Ottini
www.pocketpcmag.com
Charles Pickrell
www.mobilecomputingsig.com
William Ramby
www.ppx3k.com
Steve Sande
www.pdantic.com
Stephan Schmidt
www.smartphone2002.info
Markus Schweiger
www.pocket-expert.de
Andrew Scott
Nilay Shah
www.medicalpocketpc.com
David
Shier
www.bluetoothnews.com
Barry Shilmover
www.pocketpctools.com
Michael Sommer
www.firstcoastnews.com/onyourside/gadget.asp
Don Sorcinelli
www.bostonpocketpc.com
Ziad Traboulsi
www.mobi-mania.com
Jim Turner
www.pocketthemes.com
Alan Williams
www.pdaavenue.com
Ed Zabrek
www.pocketpcmag.com
GAMES ROUNDUP
Short reviews from Games Editor, Allen Gall
Value Is the Name of the Game!
Value is the theme of this round of selections. Two game packs, GameBox Classics and GameBox Solitaire, offer great bargains at about $10 each. Monkey Island is also a good deal at $5.99, although it doesn't offer a demo. Stressed is a freeware title, but frankly it's a more quality effort than many commercial titles.
Links Pocket PC Edition (A)
Links Pocket PC Edition lives up to the reputation of its desktop namesake. The game features well-designed menus and realistic course graphics (you only get one built-in course; additional courses are available for $6.95 each). Icons to the left of and above the player display information about the course, the current hole, the player, the elevation and distance between the golf ball and the pin, the slope of the ground where your ball is resting, the lie of your ball (fairway, rough, etc.), and the wind direction and magnitude.