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Symbian Gets Synch Software from Rival Microsoft
As a result, users of smartphones that run on Symbian software, over 20 million devices, will be able to wirelessly receive emails via network computers that run Microsoft's Exchange Server software. These servers are used mainly for Microsoft's Outlook email and calendar applications.
Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research) , which sells most of the Symbian-based smartphones, last month signed a deal with Microsoft to license the same software, called ActiveSync, for use in its enterprise devices such as the Communicator.
The collaboration is intriguing, because Symbian was set up by the world's biggest mobile phone makers in the late 1990s as a force against Microsoft, which handset makers believed was aiming to dominate the cell phone industry in the same way it had become the de facto operating system for personal computers.
But six years on, Microsoft's market share in operating software for mobile phones has not crossed 1 percent. Meanwhile, corporate employees have to come to expect email on their mobile devices as it was pioneered by the Blackberry device, from Research In Motion (RIM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) .
"Microsoft isn't a monolithic company. This is a deal we've done with their server division and is aimed to complete the portfolio of email solutions, so that people have the choice to receive emails whichever email system they use," said Symbian spokesman Peter Bancroft.
Microsoft's Windows software for mobile devices is run from another division at the world's biggest software company.
Symbian continues to support a wide range of other email synchronization protocols such as RIM's Blackberry Connect as well as the Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization protocol.
Mobile phone operating software maker Symbian is licensing the Microsoft ActiveSync technology in a move that surprised analysts. The license would allow Symbian to develop a plug-in for mobile phones to let users check email that is served by Microsoft Exchange Server mail system.

Symbian was formed in 1998 by Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Psion in a collaborative desire to counter Microsoft's emerging market power in operating systems for handheld devices. While Microsoft now provides the Windows Mobile software for mobile phones, it has not attained significant market penetration. At the same time, in part through the increased popularity of Research in Motion's ''BlackBerry'' mobile email device, users have come to expect their mobile phones to synchronize email with various mail servers — including Exchange Server.

Symbian appears to be sensitive to the appearance of collaborating with the very competitor that spurred their creation. Symbian's press release emphasized that the licensing of the technology introduces just one of the many methods the Symbian software communicates with email servers. The spokesperson for the company, Peter Bancroft, was also on the defensive: "Microsoft isn't a monolithic company" he said, referring to the fact that Exchange Server and Windows Mobile are created by two different divisions of Microsoft.

Shares of Research in Motion dropped on the news.