Last week, I had what every computer user dreads getting – my Hard Drive Crashed. I was watching a movie, and all of the sudden everything just stopped. I tried to reboot, but my computer didn’t even recognize my Hard Drive. I didn’t panic about losing my data though, as my computer is constantly backing up to Time Machine. (note: BACK UP YOUR DATA CONSTANTLY!) However, I was panicked about how I was going to be able to maintain my business. I had to be go anywhere from 2-10 days without my laptop depending on what the complete problem was, and how long until Apple would be able to turn it around.

Lucky for me, I upgraded to the new iPhone 3G S just 2 weeks ago. This phone is the perfect tool to run your business away from the office (or sans computer). Now a days, thanks to the variety of business apps available in the App Store, I can process a credit card payment, manage my accounting, update my inventory, track shipping, and more: all on my iPhone.

My short experience (luckily only 4 days) brought me to think though -

“Could you run your entire business from a smartphone?”

It’s certainly easy to run a business from a laptop from anywhere in the world because so long as you have an internet connection you can operate the same as if you were in the office. But would it work running your business from a mobile device all the time?

I decided to look at some of the main issues to consider:

Email, phones and internet:

The mobile devices of today specialize in making these easy. Starting with the original BlackBerry designed for corporate execs to get their email on the move; accessing email, surfing the web and making calls is easy on all devices. In fact they beat laptops in this respect, as from a standing start they are quicker to get the device switched on and access the internet. Mobile surfing is no longer the hell it used to be thanks to faster mobile phone networks such as 3G and the anticipated 4G networks that may be launching this year, as well as the growth of mobile web browsers. The iPhone in particular makes browsing the normal internet from a mobile device very easy thanks to it’s fully functioning version of Safari (still no Flash though…). Of course, you still can’t beat the full screen experience you get on your laptop. Many web pages are hard to read on a small screen, meaning you have to scroll a lot. This could slow you down significantly if your profession requires a lot of reading.

Using documents:

It’s easy to access Word and Excel documents on BlackBerrys and Windows Mobile devices. The iPhone that allow you to do it. You can also open documents using a web-based service such as Google Docs. But while it might be easy to open documents, editing them is another matter. You wouldn’t want to rely on a mobile device to do anything more than review and make alterations to a document. Plus, mobile editing is limited if it even functions of a certain device. The thought of trying to type a long document on any mobile device – even one with a mini keyboard like a BlackBerry – is a nightmare. It would simply take too long compared to a laptop. Mobile devices are nowhere near good enough to create anything but very simple documents yet.

Printing:

You should be able to print from all mobile devices either by connecting to a network and accessing a network printer (just as you would with a laptop), or by using Bluetooth. Unlike a laptop you cannot easily plug a USB memory stick into a mobile device, for example if you were asking a hotel reception to print documents for you.

Applications:

Here’s an area where the iPhone shines brightly. It has thousands of applications in its Apps Store, many of them free. They are developed by external developers, meaning anyone can spot a gap in the market and attempt to fill it. Best of all, because Apple insists on certain standards, their apps just work. BlackBerry has App World which is its version of the store, albeit with far fewer apps. PDAs typically run on Windows Mobile software, meaning there is lots of software for them… but it can be hit and miss whether it works properly.

Battery life:

Mobile devices are probably no worse than laptops in this area. As with any mobile device, the more you use it and the more programs you have open, the faster your battery runs down. All mobile devices are easy to keep charged up if you are using them extensively during the day. However, a mobile phone can last a good 5-6 hours with heavy data usage, whereas a good average laptop might get 3 hours.

What if you lose it?

This is by far the biggest nightmare for anyone who owns a mobile device. The key issue is loss of data. On your laptop, you need to either keep a copy of everything on an external hard disc or back up data using a service such as Mozy and Amazon S3, or Time Machine on a Mac. On mobile devices, they are just as easy to back up just by being plugged into a computer. Both BlackBerrys and iPhones can “sync” to computers wirelessly using services such as Apple’s MobileMe, which is nice because that means you don’t have to remember to plug them into a computer to copy your data. The iPhone has an additional trick when you lose it if you subscribe to MobileMe; you can trigger a message on the screen offering a reward for its safe return, and even remotely destroy data to stop thieves getting their hands on it.

My conclusion

Yes, theoretically you could run your entire business from a smartphone. It looks at the moment as if the iPhone would be a better model to go with, if only because the Apps Store makes it more likely that more business-specific applications will be created in the near future.

However, compared to running your business from a laptop, you will probably quickly find yourself deeply frustrated and getting annoyed with your smartphone. Typing is slow and painful, and while using the mobile internet and email is easier than it has ever been, it is still not as good as using a laptop.

Proper voice recognition could remove most of these issues in the future. When you can dictate documents or emails to your mobile device, the speed of working will increase and the need for a big laptop with a keyboard will vanish. But that’s not going to happen for a few years at least. I recommend you stick with your laptop for now, especially if you’re in the web design/development industry such as myself.

Do you find yourself heavily reliant on your mobile device or your laptop in your specific industry? Do you think you could run your entire business from your phone? Why or Why Not?