Cell Phones, PDAs and More

Guest: Paul Amos, CEO of Omnicel Communications Corp.
Mr. Amos is the owner and CEO of Omnicel Communications Corp., a leading international distributor of wireless communication products, including smart phones, PDAs, and OEM accessories. Mr. Amos has a Bachelor’s Degree in Technical Studies from Southern Illinois University.

We talked about mobile technology for the small business owner.

• Smart Phones come at a higher price but when I asked Paul why somebody would spend so much on a phone he said convenience and that it replaces everything. As a small business owner you don’t have to travel with a laptop or any other device when you go with a Smart Phone
  • Higher priced, $500 – $1500+
  • Windows based device, does some of the same programs like Word, Excel, etc., and you can access and change documents
    • There are Smart Phones with a different OS, but you can only read the Windows-based programs like Word, can’t change those documents
  • Basically a computer synced up with a phone
  • Can access web and email with the push of a button
  • Has PDA functionality, personal assistant, store meeting info and print out or fax
  • Can fax from the phone
  • Comes with a USB so you can hook it up to your computer or printer and print
  • Ram can be up to 4 gigabytes
  • Can store music and movies
  • Has a camera
  • Can act like an iPod
  • Has GPS
  • Multiple manufacturers including Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Erickson and LG (Lucky GoldStar)
• Mid-range phones
  • $150 – $300
  • Some Smart Phone capabilities but much more basic
• Basic phones
  • $100 +
  • Pretty much just for making and receiving phone calls
• PDAs
  • Most of these capabilities are now in Smart Phones so this market seems to be slowing down
  • You’d have to carry 2 devices
• Blackberries
  • This is a cell phone
  • Paul called this an email machine. Very popular in corporate environment where you need to send and receive email while traveling or in meetings
  • Can get GPS with it
• Blue Tooth
  • Still the only wireless technology from an ear piece to your phone
  • There is a car version, too.
• iPhone
  • Not as groundbreaking as all the hype, has a lot of the Smart Phone technology, not Windows based so can’t change Word or Excel docs on it
  • It looks great and allows you to pick specific email that you want to see
  • Does games
  • Has touch screen technology that is now on the iPod too

Paul also told us about unlocked phones. Which basically means you can walk into any cell phone store, buy any cell phone, take out your sim card from your old cell phone and put it into the new one and that’s it. But there are two main competing network technologies: GSM and CDMA and you need to make sure that your new phone is compatible with your carrier’s network. The cell phone or electronics store staff will be able to help you with this.