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Bloomberg Professional Runs on Windows Mobile
June 16, 2008
Bloomberg Professional subscribers can now use the service on their Windows Mobile handheld devices, which Microsoft Corp. hopes will help it make gains in the BlackBerry-dominated financial services industry.
Any phone equipped with Windows Mobile 6 can access economic data, pricing, news, messaging, alerts, personalized market monitors and other Bloomberg functions, said the companies at the Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association's Technology Management Conference last week.
"Access to market information and news is critical for Bloomberg users," said John Waanders, project manager at Bloomberg, in a prepared statement. "Bloomberg on Microsoft will further empower our global customer base to access Bloomberg functions via one of the world's most recognizable mobile platforms."
"Mobile access to news, data and other types of market information is no longer a luxury for today's financial services professionals," added Craig Saint-Amour, U.S. capital markets industry solutions director at Microsoft. The partnership will provide users with "Bloomberg's real-time, productivity-enhancing information services while they are away from their desktops and laptops," he said. Microsoft expects to announce other data services on the Mobile 6 platform later this year.
Microsoft Mobile has seen relatively slow adoption in financial services. Several years ago, Cantor Fitzgerald's London-based Cantor Index business launched its spread betting service on Windows Mobile devices, streaming real-time trading prices, news and video feeds. This spring a subsidiary, Cantor Gaming, has been testing a Microsoft device at the Venetian in Las Vegas, allowing users to place bets while walking around the casino. State regulators are monitoring the trial before deciding whether to approve an expansion of the service.
Gambling aside, financial firms have largely stuck with Research in Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry handhelds. According to Todd Christy, CTO of Waltham, Mass.-based Pyxis Mobile, that is about to change due to Microsoft's release of a security management product that connects safely through a company's firewalls. Called System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM), the solution lets users in the field connect to a server inside the company.
"BlackBerry has done that extremely well from the beginning," said Christy. "Microsoft has lagged seriously on this front."
But for the last two years, Microsoft has worked closely with firms to determine their requirements and build them into MDM. Wall Street investment banks and retail banks need to be able to manage mobile devices the same way they do laptops and desktops, said Adam Kornak, enterprise mobility strategy manager for Microsoft's financial services group.
With the Mobile Device Manager, Microsoft offers 150 policies that firms can distribute, update and enforce wirelessly, covering security, encryption and disabling text messaging to meet Securities and Exchange Commission requirements. MDM also works with Microsoft Active Directory, making mobile devices a regular part of the network, with role-based access and other policies administered by a firm.
On the security front--a primary concern in the industry--MDM supports strong authentication passwords and requires them to be renewed on a regular basis.
Pyxis, which focuses on mobility solutions for financial services firms, is a Microsoft partner but most of its sales come from the RIM platform. "The secret sauce on mobility is the network operations center," said Christy. "Every bit that flows through the RIM device goes through a RIM network center." When the center goes down, customers lose service. Microsoft messaging, on the other hand, goes from Microsoft Exchange directly to a carrier and the user, which it touts as an advantage.
