Microsoft Announces Business IM Plans for Windows Mobile

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/Microsoft+buddies+up+for+business+IM/2100-1012_3-5675587.html' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/Microsoft+buddi..._3-5675587.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Microsoft is betting it's not just teenagers who want to send instant messages to each other via cell phone. The company is working on software to allow devices that use Windows Mobile to connect to a corporate IM server running Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2005, Microsoft said on Monday... The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant said customers have been asking it to move its business messaging software beyond the PC. "People are saying we really need this to be integrated with our mobile devices," Ed Simnett, group product manager at Microsoft, said."</i><br /><br />Although Simnett has announced the plan to bring business IM to Windows Mobile devices, he also stated that it is highly unlikely that this software will surface anytime this calendar year. It has been claimed though that it will run on Pocket PC devices running Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition or later, but since it will be a while before we see this, I wouldn't be surprised if the initial version of Windows Mobile 2003 is included in the list of supported operating systems. But then again, based on past experiences, I <i>would</i> be surprised if it was included too. ;)

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Microsoft is really attacking the Enterprise IM space. Their LCS2k5 product is one of a small handful out there that can support cross-IM communications with Yahoo IM and, of course, MSN IM.

The integration between LCS2k5 and their MS Office 2k3 suite is phenomenal and if you pull back and take a look at the big picture, we know that MS is about to enable push-email technology into their Exchange service because they're trying to attack a market that Blackberry does so well in.

Well, they're looking to leverage the capabilities of LCS2k5 into their full enterprise picture which includes full collaboration with their mobile devices.

While some of MS' decisions in the past with PocketPC/Windows Mobile have been somewhat questionable, there is actually a very well-organized enterprise strategy in play here with their current suite of products.