Google makes Microsoft sweat over Sync cutoff, but Windows Phone will get DAV support
A curious twist in the ongoing ecosystems war — Google's decision to drop Exchange ActiveSync support, a protocol used to sync Gmail calendar, contacts, and mail items on mobile devices, left Microsoft surprised and disappointed.
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the ecosystems war moving from rhetoric into plumbing. Microsoft had already been positioning against Google's mobile ambitions since calling its phone plan 'very difficult' in January 2010, and by July 2012 it was hitting back publicly as Google muscled in on its territory. Cutting Exchange ActiveSync — the protocol that lets Gmail mail, contacts, and calendars sync natively on mobile devices — turns a licensing decision into a competitive weapon aimed squarely at the weakest major smartphone platform.
The pickup was unusually broad: eight outlets including Gizmodo, The Next Web, SiliconANGLE, and Phone Arena ran the story the same day, reflecting how directly it touches every Windows Phone user with a Gmail account. The confirmed concession is that Windows Phone will gain CalDAV/CardDAV-style DAV support to fill the gap ActiveSync leaves behind.
First-order effects
- Windows Phone loses native Gmail calendar, contact, and mail sync through ActiveSync, forcing Microsoft to ship DAV support to keep Gmail-connected devices functional.
- Google's own platforms are unaffected, so the cutoff costs Google little while degrading the day-to-day experience of its services on a rival's phones.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft must now invest engineering in open sync protocols (DAV) it would otherwise not prioritize, shifting its interoperability strategy from licensed Microsoft protocols to community standards.
- Other licensees of ActiveSync — smaller device makers and third-party clients relying on the protocol for Gmail access — face the same forced migration, raising their cost of staying outside Google's own app ecosystem.
Third-order effects
- If platform owners treat once-open sync protocols as revocable privileges, interoperability becomes a lever in the ecosystems war rather than a baseline expectation, pressuring rivals to build parallel infrastructure.
- The episode accelerates consolidation around each vendor's first-party apps: users on non-favored platforms are pushed toward web clients or proprietary apps, eroding the neutral-protocol layer that made cross-platform email and calendaring commodity features.
The trend: Mobile ecosystems are weaponizing interoperability, with platform owners withdrawing cross-platform protocol support to steer users toward their own devices and apps.