Friday, April 26, 2013

Where Does Windows Phone Fail Small Business?


For all the positive things that can be said about handling your business needs with Windows Phone devices, there are a few key areas where Windows Phone falls flat. These are areas where other platforms have really stepped forward in recent months, and some where they have been good for quite some time. What does Windows Phone need in the near future to really win over the small business user? Here’s my short list.
Local Printing: Currently there is no good solution for small business printing in Windows Phone. Android now has Apps from Epson, HP and many others that allow direct printing to any networked printer. Sure, it is great to edit that Word file on the go, but try printing it to a local printer.
Faxing: As a big user of contracts and NDA’s, I would really appreciate the ability to fax directly from my device. There are a few different 3rd party solutions to this issue, but didn’t my fax modem in Windows 3.11 do this already? Why on earth can’t we work this in to a data call and allow direct faxing from our devices? Android and iPhone both have great Fax/Email conversion programs that don’t cost much if anything at all. It’s time to build this one in Microsoft.
Credit Card Acceptance: The single biggest complaint I hear from Windows Phone rejects is that there is no good system for accepting credit cards on Windows Phone. Users of Square, Authorize.Net and other systems can readily download an App for iOS or Android and be running a mobile card processing stand in seconds. New users just complete a simple setup and they are accepting cards in minutes. Windows Phone has nothing from any of the major vendors and only a sub-par 3rd party App as a possible solution.
With these three small features becoming a part of Windows Phone, the small business owner could find a complete solution for running their mobile office. Sure, there are plenty of features built in to Windows Phone already, but by missing these three areas, and not offering up a third party solution, small biz owners will continue to flock to the other operating systems and more importantly, overlook the values of Windows Phone.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 810
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