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Commtag is first "Wireless Redirector" partner for Microsoft

"The best way to get email when mobile, is to have it pushed to your phone. It's quicker like that," says Commtag's Geoffrey Baird. But is it best to get it on a Microsoft phone?

Commtag, a pioneer of mobile email and diary "push" technology, has joined forces with Microsoft to announce "always-on wireless email" for Microsoft Windows-Powered Pocket PC and Smartphone devices.

Commtag, the only European partner in Microsoft's new Wireless Redirector Program which is also supposed to be launched today, will make its Duality always-on mail solution available for deployment across end-to-end Microsoft platforms. Cost will be about £50 per user wifor the initial licence feeth a £10 per month service fee. It will be available primarily through resellers for multi-user version, and Commtag hopes to make Duality available for individual users in due course, direct from them or (one day) from their web site.

The move is going to seem odd to observers, since Microsoft builds Outlook into its mobile platforms, from PocketPC down to the newest Orange SPV Smartphone. And Outlook (or Pocket Outlook) does both email and calendaring. The difference, according to Geoffrey Baird, CEO of Commtag, is the push that Commtag provides.

"You actually spend less time reading email this way," he told NewsWireless Net. "If you find yourself, as I did recently, in a region where there is no GSM wireless coverage, and you have to get down to an Internet cafe, you are struck by how much longer it takes to read email; because of all the time taken in retrieving them. With Duality, it's all in your phone, and you just read it; it happens without your intervention. And the same with calendars: you make an appointment with your phone or PDA, and it's automatically transferred to your PC; and someone in the office updates your schedule, it immediately appears on your mobile device."

Ironically, the service won't be available on Microsoft's first Smartphone for another couple of months. "We plan to support the Orange SPV and similar, but it's not ready yet," said Baird. "By the end of Q1, I expect to be able to cover that; we will certainly have it soon. And of course, it's not our first Microsoft product: we already support the XDA, and Pocket PC 2002 phone edition, and Pocket PC."

The official announcement says: "Microsoft and Commtag aim to provide business users with secure mobile access to business-critical information in real-time by further extending the functionality of Microsoft Outlook and Exchange."

But in fact, Duality works quite happily without any need for Outlook. And this may be one of its advantages over alternatives; Outlook is a large program, and even Pocket Outlook as found on Pocket PCs, is a bit of a lump. Its complexity is one of Palm's biggest sales pitches against Pocket PC, where storing and retrieving personal information and appointments takes far more effort.

"We're delighted to be working with Microsoft as the first European partner in its Redirector Solutions Program, it's a major endorsement both of the market for wireless email and the momentum behind Duality within European enterprise customers," said Baird.

But he won't be restricting his efforts to Microsoft mobiles. "There isn't really a suitable Symbian phone available in quantity, yet; the Sony-Ericsson P800 will probably be the first we see as going into corporate use, but it's very scarce right now," he admitted.

Probably, the best example of what Commtag is trying to do, is the RIM Blackberry; but the trouble with Blackberry is simple enough: nobody owns one. Blackberry is entirely and purely a corporate product, which is only used when corporate departments buy several units for staff. "And that isn't happening in the market right now; IT spending is at a minimum," said Baird. "So we make it work on devices that staff already have; phones, and PDAs."

Duality's always-on push email with its end-to-end 128 bit encryption technology will particularly appeal to the carriers, and so, Microsoft and Commtag will be evangelising European mobile network operators.

"It's a classic dilemma - enterprises need to increase efficiency and to save money, whilst operators are looking for new service offerings that drive up average revenue per user, or ARPU. But these are only superficially contradictory aims, because both parties unite in wanting to optimise the business worker's time and technology - which is precisely what Duality does," said Geoffrey Baird, CEO, Commtag. "Wireless email provides the mobile worker with always-on and transparent access to business-critical information in real-time, delivering a true seamless user experience from the desktop to the PDA and Smartphone.

Microsoft's comment: "Business users are already inseparable from their mobile phone, and as the functionality of the mobile device increases, new applications and services will be key to driving further adoption of Pocket PC and Smartphone devices," said Annemarie Duffy, Marketing Manager - Mobile Devices Division, Microsoft EMEA. "Through working with partners such as Commtag, Microsoft is committed to making it easy for users to enjoy secure and instant access to company email anytime and anywhere."

Duffy didn't have any more details about the Wireless Redirector programme, however, which appears to have slipped in Microsoft's schedule. More details when available ...

Duality combines real-time email management with always-on calendaring, meeting requests and filing, to fully mobilise the key functionality of Microsoft Outlook. Every action taken on the wireless device is reflected back on the user's desktop email in real-time ensuring that the user retains complete "one-touch" control of their core personal information management (PIM) applications. Commtag has also incorporated its new automatic file compression on both mail and attachments, which drastically reduces GPRS data charges for the individual business user.