by: Ramon Ray

I've found that the most difficult technology to purchase is a cellular phone. There are so many different cellular service providers; all selling a cross mix of different cellular phones. How is one to know what to buy? For starters, check out www.point.com. This Web site provides a very easy way to select the cellular phone you want for your needs. You can also try www.cnet.com, which will give you a lot of information, reviews and more.

When buying a cellular phone, don't get side swiped by all the technology available (call waiting, call forwarding, e-mail and etc.) For most small businesses simpler is better; a simple phone to make and receive phone calls. Fortunately, most cellular phones will come with several options that come with the phone or that you can add later on. The main thing to consider is your coverage area. You want to make sure that the cellular carrier you choose more than covers the primary area where you will be using your phone. Most phones being sold utilize digital technology, and not the older analog technology. Digital phones provide better sound quality, text messaging, and other features not found on analog phones.

Beepers/Pagers are a very mature market and have pretty much stayed the same over the past few years - the exception being the addition of alpha numeric text message SENDING - not just receiving. If you think you'll need to receive and respond to messages every few minutes, then one of these pagers is just for you. Otherwise it may be just an added wasted gadget.

Notebook computers are another technology that has pretty much stayed then same overall. Yes, they are much lighter, have longer batter life and other things, but other than that you've got your basic computer shrunk down. The things to consider are the keyboard size (how easy it is to type?), screen clarity and size, options that you can add on later, battery life and ports (PS/2 or serial, USB, infra red, etc.).

There's a whole line of new palm/hand held computers on the market, that are very useful if size of a notebook computer is just too much for you - remember though, new Sony, IBM, and Toshiba models only hover around 2 - 3lbs.

PDA palm/hand held computers are a totally different ball game and are useful for the person that needs to be productive while in motion! You can't flip open a notebook and type a note while taking a short taxicab ride. It's just not practical. The thing has to boot up and is often too cramped in a cab or bus. But with a PDA it's very, very easy to do. The Palm VII enables one to wirelessly connect to the Internet and retrieve "web clippings". These are not complete web sites, but portions of web sites like news, stocks, weather and a growing list of other applications.

Mobile technology is an enabler. However, you can easily become its slave if you aren't careful. Having three different e-mail addresses for your pager, pc and PDA is no fun. Being called on your cell phone and beeped on your pager by the same person about the same topic can be annoying.

Before investing in mobile technology analyze your needs (not the vendors push) and get what's best for you. I would suggest that you talk to at least two or three different vendors/retailers to get more than one opinion. See what other small businesses have done. Hear their war stories and successes and then plunge in.

Do you have something to share about your mobile experiences? E-mail me at mobilestory@smallbiztechnology.com subject: mobile_story

Ramon Ray - ramon@smallbiztechnology.com http://www.smallbiztechnology.com?onasig Small business technology analyst and consultant Editor, Small Business Technology Report