As announced at Tech Ed in Orlando, Windows Mobile 5.0 will have built-in support for e-mail push technology, as delivered by Exchange Server 2003 SP2.
The Messaging and Security Features Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0 was announced by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at a company conference for developers yesterday. The Pack contains a number of features IT admins will find useful as proliferation of handheld devices that connect to corporate data increase.
Centralized security management, a greater range of features in Outlook Mobile, and faster synchronizations enabled by better data compression have been listed as benefits of using the new Pack.
But the biggest news item in the Pack is the inclusion of Direct Push Technology support. This keeps a Windows Mobile device up to date with its messages as an Exchange 2003 SP2 mail server pushes them out wirelessly.
Microsoft considers one aspect of this so important that the company put it in their press release four times in different forms: by utilizing Exchange 2003 SP2 and the new Pack, companies don’t have to spend money on a third-party solution for wireless e-mail push support.
To companies in that “third-party” space, like BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and push-software maker Good Technologies, this announcement may sound like the ominous closing of a very large and heavy door. Microsoft is now playing in their sandbox. And as many companies like Netscape have found, Microsoft plays to win.
A market full of devices that don’t run Microsoft software, like the addictive BlackBerry, always represents a threat to the Redmond-based software maker. After the Netscape browser arrived, and Microsoft finally recognized the Internet as a significant entity deserving of its support, out came the free Internet Explorer browser. And out went Netscape as a company.
The familiar look and feel of Outlook, and its supported features on Windows Mobile, may be irresistible to companies weighing a choice between deploying BlackBerry devices or a competing feature-rich Windows Mobile device.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.