The iPhone is probably the biggest misnomer for what is undoubtedly a lot more than a mere mobile phone. I'd even go so far as to say that the "phone" bit is the least of this device's functionality.

A couple of weeks ago I discovered that as well as being a phone, instant messenger, time manager, customer database, camera etc. etc. it is also a GPS Navigation System. And not the dinky little app-trying-to-be-grownup type system, I mean a full Navigation System with turn by turn voice instructions, points of interest, lane indicators, speed, the whole shebang.

When I decided I was going to take the plunge 2 main apps caught my eye. The Tom Tom and Sygic apps. So, which did I choose and why?

The Tom Tom has the mind-share as a GPS device so that sounded like a plus but when I dug into the comments on the Apple iPhone App Store there seemed to be a lot of less satisfied customers, the price was also an issue at $99.99 (possibly only because $100.00 wouldn't fit in the "Buy App" button). It didn't have Text to speech where the voice reads out street names nor did it have automatic night mode or a lane selector (very handy on those multi-flyovers).

The Sygic app on the other hand was $59.99 (it's since gone up to $79.99). It comes with maps for Australia and New Zealand (I really should plot a route from my place to Auckland - just to see what happens).

So I got the Sygic app based on recommendations and features that I thought would be useful to me. Once I loaded it up I gave it a run and it performed exactly as the documentation and some of the recommendations said it would. It takes about 100 meters to orient itself but after that away it goes.

I put the phone in a cradle in the car and hooked it up with my Motorola bluetooth car kit which is in turn connected to the car stereo via FM. One thing I found annoying was that although answering a call paused the system and the music if it was in the "landscape" position when the app came back it was in the "portrait" position. Also, in order to make a call I needed to exit the GPS and then restart it and navigate through the annoying disclaimer about playing with the app whilst driving. The TTS (text to speech) I chose was a polite Brittish gentleman who pronounced most of the streets quite accurately. The voices cover many languages and both genders - I just figured I take enough instructions from a woman (genius though she is). The American accents sound like the old Macintosh voices so, no great loss there.

So, in conclusion. I spent a fraction of the price of a "real" GPS system and got; well, a real GPS system.

Please leave a comment to describe your experiences with the growing ubiquity of the iPhone.

I often receive calls from clients needing software support or desktop support. As a web developer/designer I am very familiar with making software work and getting pcs and Macs configured, that is; my pc or my Mac. I have an intuition of what settings I need to change and where they might be so I can run through a lot of settings very quickly.

As part of our services here at Web Design Experts we set up email services. My customers; it should be noted, are intelligent and adaptive people who just happen to use computers in various ways to conduct their business. When I set up an email service, whether it is via Google Apps or a cPanel driven email system, there is usually 2 components; the mail server (our area of expertise) and the client (not really an area of expertise - just competence).

The thing about client software is that it could be anything, Outlook 2003/2007/XP/2008 or Outlook Express (3-4 versions), Groupwise, Thunderbird, mail.app (v2 or v3), Lotus Notes, and the list goes on (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-mail_clients).

So the difficulty lies in where do we draw the line?

We can configure most software packages because we are programmers at heart and know all of the standards that software writers use (as long as we are sitting in front of the machine with access to the documentation or the internet). As far as providing a high quality service it is not the best option. A desktop support expert would complete the task in minutes where we might fudge through for 1/2 hr or so and then miss some basic requirement and have to re-visit it.

It's not exactly an uplifting experience and it makes writing an invoice equally unpleasant because one of our business missions is to be the "Expert" for our customer so they can get on with what they are "Expert" at. In feeling as though we have not provided the best possible service ends up with the whole excercise being more expensive for both our client and us.

Depressed yet?

Well there is hope.

I am a staunch advocate of Google Apps, in particular the email system. It is just like Gmail but it can be customised somewhat to provide a bit of corporate branding and a nice login address of mail.yourdomain.com.au where yourdomain is your actual domain name (ours is webdesignexperts).

The web based client is very functional, you get calendar, addressbook, word-processing, presentations, spreadsheets as well as a few other services without loading or configuring anything on your computer. This also means that you can access all of these functions anywhere you have an internet connection and a web browser.

I believe that the days of all client software (software that you load onto your computer) is numbered. Even Microsoft know this.

"LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28, 2008 — As part of a strategic companywide shift toward embracing web-based solutions, Microsoft today announced plans to deliver Office Web applications – lightweight versions of Office – through web browsers."

Read the whole article here http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2008/oct08/10-28PDCOffice.mspx

What does this mean?

1. Far less configuration
2. No issues with other software already loaded
3. No need to purchase and apply updates
4. You can use your disk storage for data instead of programs
5. It doesn't matter what hardware you have
6. When you change computers you won't need to re-load anything

Will it be cheaper?

Well, Google Apps is currently free for up to 50 users with 7GB storage space (this will undoubtedly change). Organisations such as Microsoft stand to lose a significant revenue stream so there will probably be a charge based on either a subscription or data/bandwidth used.

So, we still haven't answered my initial question of "Where do we draw the line?".

For us it is a matter of doing what you do well. This may seem a bit rough however the real answer can be seen in the following cost analysis.

Your web designer e-mails you the config info and you spend 45minutes trying to set up an IMAP or POP connection it doesn't work. You call your web designer and together spend the next 30minutes going through settings to find that you left off a dot or missed a setting (not your fault - you're not a computer person). So far we have a total of 105minutes of resources spent. Then something else occurs, a folder isn't there anymore or a rule stops working, call the designer...

Now consider this scenario.

Your web designer sets up the email server and emails you and your desktop support person the config info. You file it away and your desktop support person initiates an online support session (if they can't "dial-in" look for new support). You go make a coffee and by the time you are back the job is done and tested. Total time spent: your time = 10minutes, web designer = 0minutes and desktop support = 10-20minutes.

Oh, and desktop support is usually cheaper than web designers' fees.

If you are still feeling as though the web designer should do the whole thing, consider a new house; the power company provides electricity to the meter box (try calling them to walk you through installing power points) and you need an electrician to install the power points.