British mobile phone software maker Symbian has agreed to license
synchronization software from longtime rival Microsoft
in an attempt to increase its number of enterprise customers.
The London-based company said the agreement will allow users of
smartphones that run on its operating system, an estimated 20 million
devices, to wirelessly receive e-mail through network computers that run on
Microsoft’s Exchange Server software. ActiveSync will also let users access calendars, contacts and other personal-information tools.
“Symbian and Microsoft together are significantly expanding the number of
customers who can directly access their corporate e-mail and other data from
wireless devices,” Dave Thompson, vice president of Microsoft’s Exchange
Server product group, said in a statement.
Although the move positions Redmond to make inroads into a European
market that it has traditionally had trouble entering, the bigger picture
for Microsoft may be the follow-through on its willingness to license its
IP broadly, and especially to competitors.
Last week, as reported by internetnews.com, the European Commission admonished the software giant once again for not acting fast
enough on compliance rulings that would enable other software providers to
interoperate with computers that run the Windows operating system, as well as opening its server protocols to licensing.
Symbian said it will now make the Exchange Server ActiveSync protocol
plug-in available to all its OS licensees.
Symbian forged a partnership last year with mobile phone giants Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson; electronics powerhouse Matsushita Communications
; and Siemens in its effort to lead the smartphone race over Microsoft as the smartphone OS of choice.
“This will help all Symbian OS licensees meet the needs of the enterprise
market,” Marit Doving, a Symbian executive vice president, said in
statement.
Smartphone technology provides rich media applications, such as e-mail and other newer forms of messaging, making the market ripe for business applications.
“Adoption of our technology by a provider like Symbian is a win for us in
the mobile phone space,” David Kaefer, director of Microsoft’s IP licensing,
said. “While deciding to license IP that has this type of significant value
is a difficult decision, these are the decisions that companies must make
all the time.”
For its part, Nokia , which is the primary seller of
Symbian-based smartphones, recently signed a deal with Microsoft to license
ActiveSync for use in its enterprise devices.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We can earn direct licensing revenue from licensing ActiveSync, and we
also generate non-revenue value, as well, in the form of technological
leadership, standardization of our technologies and overall relationship
value,” Kaefer said. “We are also very pleased that European technology
companies like Symbian and Nokia are finding our IP licensing efforts as
beneficial to their businesses.”