Exchange ActiveSync to arrive on Hotmail on Monday
REDMOND, Wash.—One of the features promised as part of the latest update to Hotmail will arrive next week, CNET has learned. — In an interview here on Thursday, Microsoft's Dharmesh Mehta told CNET that Exchange ActiveSync …
Context & Ripple Effects
Hotmail has spent two years carrying the 'stagnant' label — LiveSide asked what happened to Hotmail? back in September 2008 while Gmail kept shipping. The latest wave of updates, of which Exchange ActiveSync is one promised piece, is Microsoft's answer: turning a browser-era inbox into a service that syncs natively with phones.
The timing is not incidental. Microsoft confirmed this week that it is committing more than half a billion dollars to jump-start Windows Phone 7, and every major smartphone platform — iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone — already licenses ActiveSync. Giving Hotmail an ActiveSync endpoint means the free consumer mailbox can act as a first-class sync source on the very devices Microsoft is about to spend that money promoting.
First-order effects
- Hotmail users get over-the-air push email, contacts, and calendar sync on ActiveSync-capable handsets starting Monday — functionality that previously required Exchange or a paid/premium account elsewhere.
Second-order effects
- Free webmail rivals Google (Gmail/Sync) and Yahoo face pressure to match full push-sync at the free tier, since Microsoft just removed a differentiator that pushed users toward paid or competitor accounts.
Third-order effects
- If ActiveSync keeps spreading across free consumer services, Microsoft's licensed protocol hardens into the de facto standard for phone-to-cloud sync — giving Microsoft leverage in the handset ecosystem even on iPhones and Android devices running its software.
The trend: Consumer webmail is shifting from browser-bound inboxes to always-synced cloud endpoints, with Microsoft's licensed ActiveSync protocol becoming the connective tissue between mailboxes and smartphones.