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Sorry, we couldn’t resist such a punny headline. Anyway, Motorola’s Good Technology division released a new version of Good Mobile Messaging yesterday. Even though it is being developed by the world’s No. 2 handset maker (though that title could be relinquished soon), this technology is intended to be used on a number of smart phone handsets, not necessarily those of Motorola. The big selling point is that it gives IT managers more flexibility than BlackBerry software.

“Today a lot of IT policy has to be enforced on small mobile devices, producing a struggle between IT needing to securely manage smartphones and enforce policy, while at the same time not impacting user productivity,” says Good Technology Group director of marketing Dan Rudolph.

Sure, it brings competition to the BlackBerry, but the two services are aimed at to different audiences. The BlackBerry appeals to the user, while Good seems to focus on the people behind the scenes. While both are important to the overall structure, it seems that Good lacks a bit on the user end.

To a large degree that means managing applications. The new software allows IT departments to require all devices to use mandatory applications, such as virus-protection software, and to ban the launch of blacklisted applications not meeting company guidelines. Good 5 also allows advanced password and encryption management and the temporary lockdown of possibly compromised devices — rather than a complete shutdown and erase requiring the full reinstalling of software if the device is recovered.

While those are good things from an IT standpoint, they still may be very limiting to the user. Yes, anti-virus software is good, and it’s also good to block certain, harmful applications. But it seems to us that these limitations won’t sit well with smart phone users who want more control over their experience.

So there are ups and downs to both. Of course, in this quickly merging world we live in, we could see a combination of these sometime in the future. Either that, or you’ll see Research In Motion strike back with more IT-friendly guidelines that balance the IT and user end of the spectrum.

Maybe we’re just dreaming, though…

[Information Week]

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