Business users to pay for Exchange access on new Droid
As we get closer to Friday’s launch of the new Motorola Droid phone by Verizon, there’s some talk in tech circles centered on how the wireless carrier is going to handle access to Microsoft Exchange’s Active Sync feature. Apparently, Verizon will change an extra $15 for customers wanting to access their company’s email system.
An article at Wired.com questions why the company would charge for this. Verizon says it’s standard practice for business customers (Blackberry users know about this) to pay extra for syncing with corporate servers to access email.
But that may not be telling the whole story. In the case of the BlackBerry, users pay additional fees because the phones connect with a company’s BlackBerry Enterprise Systems and not the consumer-focused BlackBerry Internet System, points out Mashable. And that involves additional licensing fees.
The Droid, though, runs the open source Android 2.0 platform with ActiveSync support already built in. That means users shouldn’t have to pay extra fees for their device to connect with their corporate servers.
I have to wonder if Verizon is missing out on an easy way to boost sales of its new phone. From a cost savings perspective, it seems like a lot of companies/users would give this phone an extra look (over a Blackberry, for example) if it offered a way to cut monthly cell phone bills.
Of course, at least two things come into play there. First, the Droid seems aimed more at regular consumers rather than business users. And second, Verizon also sells a lot of Blackberrys.
UPDATE:
A reader points us to PCMag.com, where Sascha Segan says there is some confusion about who, exactly, would have to pay the extra $15 for access to an Exchange server. His research says the fee would apply only to those users who have corporate accounts. So if you are registered as an individual user, you’ll likely be able to avoid the extra fee.
So where’s the confusion been coming from? Carrier definitions of “business” and normal human definitions of “business” are different. For carriers, it doesn’t matter if you’re doing business. They only care if you are a business.
Tim has covered a wide range of topics, including tourism, crime, aviation and gambling, since becoming a reporter in 1990. The Oklahoma native joined the Post-Dispatch in 2007 after spending nine years in Orlando. In his spare time, he's often exploring one virtual world or another. He can be reached at tbarker@post-dispatch.com. 
Verizon likes to be in control of everything.
Not just Verizon wanting to control everything. All companies want to squeeze as much money from people as they can. We pay more for our cell service than any other country. I have some friends from both Europe and Asia and they are shocked at how much the bills are here, for the same products and worse service. If they can charge you for it, they will!
I hope you two are never in charge of running a business. Last I checked, the point was to maximize profits for the shareholders. To do that, you use the simple economic concept of supply and demand. If everyone is willing to pay high fees for the level of service they get, then that is the value of the service. If you want a cheap cell phone plan, go use Sprint… but deal with significantly less coverage. It’s not exactly cheap for AT&T or Verizon to maintain much larger networks.
Actually, there have been clarifications that the extra $15 charge will only be on corporate accounts. If you simply go and pick up a Droid, it will be the same $30/mo data fees whether or not you use Exchange.
It’s similar to the pricing AT&T has with the iPhone. $30 for people, $45 for companies.
Pertinent info from http://www.gearlog.com/2009/11/personal_droid_data_will_cost.php
Droid uses the exact same data plans as every Windows Mobile phone on Verizon. There is no special Droid data plan.
Second, whether you pay $30 or $45 doesn’t depend on what you’re doing with the phone. You can hit Exchange email on the $30 plan just fine. It depends on what kind of Verizon Wireless account you have. If you have a personal account or family plan, your data will cost $30/month. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Microsoft Exchange, Facebook, Gmail, or whatever - it’s $30. This is the same for all Verizon Windows Mobile and Android phones.
Data on business accounts - “corporate liable,” multiple lines, purchased through business sales, usually mediated by an IT department - costs $45/month. Once again, this is the same for every Windows Mobile and Android phone. The same goes for AT&T’s iPhones, by the way.
to mweb
Not all companies. As an internet application service provider we actually reduced our monthly rates for Exchange, Microsoft CRM 4.0, Sharepoint hosting and remote server and workstation backups.
Anything using Active-Sync should be free to the customer. It does not cost anything more to push mail to residential or business customers.
We only charge $9.95 to push mail from our Blackberry server. It’s too bad that some companies feel the need to charge for something that is free to them.
Apparently someone didn’t do research before writing a knee-jerk type article. This is why online information needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Everyone believes that anything put into “print” on the internet is the truth. It was verified to be a non-truth much earlier than today’s time stamp on the article.
What a bunch of nonsense.
This violates the tenets of ‘Net Neutrality’. Provide a pipe and shut up. ISPs should not be allowed to control legal traffic on the interwebs or charge more for how you use the Pipe you pay for.
Typo: “Apparently, Verizon will cha[r]ge an extra $15 for customers wanting to access their company’s email system.”
I wonder if they are talking about Verizon’s own hosted exchange solution, and not the access to the network. If you look into this, it might be that Verizon is talking about their optional email service that is basically a hosted exchange service.
Other people have been commenting that they can connect without a problem using the $30.00 data plan. Might want to check into that