In Tablet Collaboration Apps, 2 Out 3 Ain't Bad

VENICE, Italy -- For us small-biz types, the giant deal between Microsoft(MSFT) and Skype has one giant problem: The deal does nothing to keep up with fast-moving collaboration apps that now run on tablets such as the Apple(AAPL) iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola(MOT) Xoom and BlackBerry(RIMM) PlayBook.

While the rest of the world goes gaga over Redmond doing a cannonball into the deep end of Web business communications, those of us who actually make a living solving problems using this or that digital gadget know the real score: If MicroSkype or Skroft -- or whatever this new business unit winds up getting called -- hopes to serve the small-business communications market, it can no longer be satisfied with just playing the PC waters.

When choose a business collaboration app for your tablet, keep in mind that some can be expensive and some can be so bad price doesn't matter.

These days, tablet-based collaboration is where the action is.

In more than six months of testing tablets as collab tools, from gondolas at The Venetian in Las Vegas to gondolas here on the real Venetian Grand Canal, the latest generation of tablet PCs offer the best mix of portability, power and bonus display real estate, trumping PCs and even smartphones such as the iPhone 4 or HTC EVO 4G.

But remarkably, neither Skype nor Microsoft has a feasible tablet-based collab app, which creates a fabulous opportunity for the competition. Here's how they stack up:

Cisco WebEx ($49 per month for up to 25 users)
WebEx, which was bought by Cisco(CSCO) back in 2007, had traditionally been less than impressive as a biz-collaboration tool. Hard to use. Sluggish. Ugly to look at. But no longer. The company has seized the tablet app day with a new, slick, easy-to-use WebEx meeting tool for tablets. Simply download the app that supports your device, launch it and log in and the app quickly brokers a meeting between up to 25 people. I liked how it managed which meetings were under way and how it supports normal telephony with good voice and very high-quality video (given proper Web connectivity). Particularly sweet was the "Pass the Ball" feature that makes it dead obvious who is leading the meeting at any time. Factor in the bombproof integration with Cisco's other line of products, excellent support and a simple 14-day free trial and this app easily won the award for doing work while wandering around my Rialto apartment. WebEx is not cheap: $49 a month. But if you want to have professional meetings with your tablet, WebEx gets the nod.

Fuze Meeting ($29 a month for up to 25 users)
Running a close second to WebEx is Fuze Meeting. Fuze for the iPad offers one-touch login, a remarkably intuitive interface and simple integration from local devices and the Fuze content library. Heck, the thing even has snappy hold music. And there is no beating the price: $20 a month less than WebEx. I loved it. The issue with Fuze is this cross-platform collaboration app is built to look about the same on PCs, smartphones and tablets. And on the PC, Fuze can be a pain. But if WebEx is not for you or if cost is a factor, Fuze can work.

GoToMeeting ($49 for up to 15 users)
Let's save some time and say that unless you're madly in love with GoToMeeting, have an account or otherwise need to use this product, stay away. GoToMeeting on my test iPad was clunky, hard to load and terribly confusing to set up. Clearly, GoToMeeting for tablets is a work in progress for Citrix(CTXS). I would steer clear until the company gets this product sorted out.

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