Symbian to Adopt Exchange Sync Software

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.betanews.com/article/Symbian_to_Synch_Up_With_Microsoft/1111504943' target='_blank'>http://www.betanews.com/article/Sym...soft/1111504943</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Symbian, maker of mobile phone software, has announced it will license synchronization software from Microsoft, swallowing its pride and shaking hands with its Redmond rival. The company hopes to bring corporate customers that use Microsoft Exchange for e-mail over to Symbian-based smartphones. The synchronization tools will be made available to Symbian licensees, which include Nokia and Fujitsu. Symbian already supports RIM's Blackberry Connect and Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization protocols."</i><br /><br />This might be good news for the Exchange group at Microsoft, but ultimately it's bad news for the Mobile Embedded Devices group whose job it is to sell Windows Mobile as an OS - one of the core advantages of Windows Mobile over Symbian-based devices is the easy Exchange synchronization. Still, I don't think people perceive Symbian as being a natural fit for the enterprise environment, so they'll have a big hurdle to overcome.

[amitregev]

I think this is probably the start of the end of the Symbian OS.....

[mbranscum]

I think this is probably the start of the end of the Symbian OS.....

Why do you feel that this is the start of the end for Symbian?

[bedge]

I would also think this is only going to help Symbian gain even more market share for Smartphones.

[wshwe]

Like it or not MS Exchange rules. The vast majority of BES installations use MS Exchange and not Lotus Notes. This will help Symbian penetrate the corporate market.