Google licenses Microsoft’s ActiveSync, beats rival to market with synching service

Microsoft Corp.’s ActiveSync technology is behind Google Inc.’s latest mobile synching offering.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet giant on Monday rolled out Google Sync., a feature that allows users with iPhones and Windows Mobile devices to exchange Gmail and Google Calendar information between phones and PCs. The free, cloud-based service pushes information between devices automatically.
Google already offers synch functionality to users with Android and BlackBerry devices.
The company also released a contacts-only version of the service for phones that support SyncML.
The news follows Microsoft’s recent expansion of its Exchange ActiveSync Licensing Program, which has netted partners such as Apple, Nokia Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.
“Google’s licensing of these Microsoft patents relating to the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol is a clear acknowledgment of the innovation taking place at Microsoft,” Microsoft VP and deputy general counsel of IP and licensing, Horacio Gutierrez, crowed in a prepared statement. “This agreement is also a great example of Microsoft’ s openness to generally license our patents under fair and reasonable terms so long as licensees respect Microsoft intellectual property. This open approach has been part of Microsoft’s IP licensing policy since 2003 and has resulted in over 500 licensing agreements of the last five years.”
Interestingly, Google seems to have beaten Microsoft to the punch; the news follows close on the heels of Microsoft’s unveiling of its own cloud offering, dubbed My Phone. The software company outlined a free service for Windows Mobile users that will launch in limited, invite-only beta form at an undisclosed date; Microsoft promised to offer details next week at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain.
Both Google and Microsoft are joining an emerging – but white-hot – playground that already includes Apple and Nokia Corp. Nokia added a synch component to its Ovi brand last fall, while Apple has been working to iron out wrinkles in its MobileMe, a premium, $99-a-year-service that survived an inauspicious debut last summer.