When I was using CRM 1.2, I found the CRM Mobile application invaluable. It allowed me to have my CRM database on my Pocket PC. That was handy! Unfortunately it was quite difficult to set up, at least for me. And apparently for Microsoft support as I was fortunate enough to have their assistance on two occasions and it took them a bit as well. With CRM 3.0, it's been a bit easier to live without CRM Mobile. CRM and Outlook are very tightly integrated in CRM 3.0 so when I synchronize my Pocket PC with Outlook, I am in fact also synching it with CRM. I once tried to install CRM Mobile 3.0 but ran into problems and gave up. Plus, I understand that CRM Mobile does not support Cases and perhaps some other stuff. But recently I've been hearing good things about CRM Mobile Express.
CRM Mobile Express is basically a web interface into CRM that is designed to fit on the Windows Mobile screen. That's nice thought I, but not very handy when you have to be connected to the Internet to use it. Open hot spots can be hard to find, especially when you NEED them. But then I realized that with the new SmartPhones and Pocket PC phones, you can connect easily from pretty much any where. I'm planning on upgrading my phone to a PDA phone so the CRM Mobile Express becomes more attractive.
CRM Mobile Express is a free download. However, the site that it was originally posted on has been discontinued. It took a little digging, but I found it recently here. Installation is an exercise is setting up a new web site. The instructions included with the package is somewhat sparse but it's adequate if you have any idea of what you are doing. It requires some editing of the web.config file(s) to set it up for your own installation. Pay attention and be patient while you're working through it.
There are two parts to the package, the Administration part, and the Mobile Applicaton. The Administration part hooks into your Settings area in your main CRM web application. It lets you specify exactly what entities and attributes (tables & fields) you want to expose to CRM Mobile Express. The Mobile Application is just that.
I have just gotten it running on my server, and on my Pocket PC. It ain't real pretty, but it's there. I'll let you know how it goes as it play with it.