Last week I retired my Blackberry Bold, removed myself from the Blackberry Enterprise Server, and began using an iPhone 4S as my mobile email, web, and telecommunications platform.
This was not a casual decision. I’ve used Blackberry products since 1998. The original Blackberry 850 was named one of the top 50 technologies of the past 50 years.
I receive a wireless communication approximately every 30 seconds from 7am-7pm every day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I receive over 1500 emails per 24 hour period. These communications are filled with media – documents to read, presentations to review, websites to access, and streaming video. Yes, I still use the email triage approach I outlined in 2007 but it’s a losing battle. The volume of communication exceeds my ability to process and respond to the information. I could cancel all my meetings, phone calls, and presentations but still fill the entire day with email communication.
I’m not suggesting this is healthy or sane, but it is the reality of communications today.
The iPhone 4S gives me a touch screen user interface to scroll, zoom, and manage my incoming messages. I can view every document, website, and video over 3G networks. Siri and voice recognition features enable me to manage my email by voice. I find myself dictating responses to about a quarter of my email with amazing accuracy.
