Microsoft Confirms Mobile Cloud Services To Be Called “My Phone”

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Microsoft Confirms Mobile Cloud Services To Be Called “My Phone”

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) confirmed at least one thing today that they were expecting to announce at Mobile World Congress in 10 days—My Phone, a service that will connect the phone to the PC and Web. Microsoft was pretty much backed into the corner on this one after the sleuths over at Engadget discovered that the My Phone Web site was already up and running. In a statement, Microsoft said: “Today, Microsoft’s My Phone Web site went live prior to its scheduled debut. However, we are excited about the new Microsoft My Phone service, which will be available as a limited, invite-only beta. This is a significant milestone for Microsoft as it connects the phone to the PC and Web, making mobility a key pillar for the company’s software+services strategy.” A Microsoft spokeswoman would not say when the scheduled launch was supposed to take place, or when the invites will start going out, however, it could be as early as MWC in Barcelona.

The cloud service will only work for Windows Mobile 6.0 phones and higher, and is designed to sync information, such as contacts, calendar items, tasks, text messages, photos and video from a user’s phone to a password protected site. While in beta, the service will be free and provide the user with 200 MB of storage. The recommended settings will automatically sync the phone once a day (between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.). The service is designed to make managing content on the phone easier, while also providing a back-up of information in case people ever lose or buy a new phone. It also sounds similar to MobileMe, the cloud-syncing service Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) launched along side the iPhone 3G last summer. It’s probably best that Microsoft is doing it as a controlled beta since MobileMe wasn’t exactly running on all cylinders right out of the gate. However, the services aren’t exactly identical either. MobileMe syncs everything instantly, not at some odd hour during the middle of the night. It also gives you 20GB of storage and 200GB of monthly data transfer, but will cost you $99 a year.

Tricia Duryee

@triciad Feb 6, 2009 7:00 PM ET

Posted In: Companies, Apple, Microsoft, my phone

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Todd

I think mobiwee.com is the best. It's free web service lets you locate, track, sync, protect, and access your mobile device from any web browser.
till now i did not see any of the bigdogs did somthing like this.

Andrew Deal

My gphone already does that. MS late to the game and strong with the lame.

Mariana Oliveira

Better now than ever!

yann

My Crosoft will soon announce My pear-to-pear applications…

jagwyre

@digital bear
You're living in the 90's if you think Microsoft can change any paradigms right now. No company playing catch-up can change any paradigm. They're just trying to keep up. Remember Zune? That was supposed to change the paradigm too.

DudeOfTheNorth

Ravenseye - really - throwing the "proprietary" stone at Microsoft is ludicrous. Apple has done their proprietary thing for years and is applauded by the media. I'm sure post beta it will be open for "everyone" - not just those who are forced to buy a device from a specific vendor.

john

All this stuff about Microsoft copying Apple is getting old… it was old 10 years ago. Apple has long been the premier innovator in personal computer technology, and now, in portable, and media technology. Quite a few companies copy Apple, and look to them to lead the way for innovation.
If they (Microsoft) come up with a viable and easy to use application, more power to them. As of yet though, Microsoft has yet to show any innovation in their platform; be it in their OS, or applications. I have used both platforms for well over 20 years and, while I am an avid Apple user, I still own and sometimes use My Vista HP.
I must say that my dual core iMac beats out my core 2 duo HP on most Apps, even though the HP is a faster and newer processor, with more RAM as well. The bloated hierarchy of Windows will drag any system down after so long. I wish Microsoft all the best in their endeavors, but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for a viable App from them until they pare down, streamline, or rebuild their OS.

Rafael Ton

Funny, there are already such service up and running called vufone (http://www.vufone.com)

Moreover, it runs not only on Windows Mobile but also on Symbian and J2ME devices and can sync your data to Google calendar and contacts, Flickr, Picasa, Facebook etc.

Amused Again

"went live prior to its scheduled debut"

Wow. Either they can't handle web sites at all, or it was a ham-fisted marketing ploy to garner free exposure on blogs like this one. It's still derivative…

Dee

Lets not forget. In response to Apple's Widgets, Microsoft came out with Gadgets. Microsoft does not have any original ideas. Either they steal from Apple or rehash old technology to market as new. Thats what they've done with "Vista Redux" being marketed as Windows 7. Does anyone really want their personal information a being held by a company that turned over customer information to the government a couple of years ago without a fight? Only Google went up against "Big Brother".

digital bear

They can easily change the paradigm again on Apple like they did with the PC or did with Word Perfect. "My Phone" at least makes sense.

Ravenseye

Yawn. I'm tired of the whole "My" thing. It's too juvenile for a grown up company. It'll be interesting to see how the concept plays out though but for MS to be a player, they need to open it up to everyone. They're a dead company walking as long as they stick to their proprietary approach. The rest of us have moved along.

John

@Dave, well, it does rhyme with iPhone, but come on… they've had "my computer", "My Documents", "my pictures", etc. for ages, not to mention"my" sites on sharepoint. Sure, they switched to "My Docs" to just "Docs" and "My Pics" to just "Pics" in Vista, but a service called "Phone" just wouldn't make sense to people. "My Phone" is a very consistent with Microsoft's long standing naming conventions.

BTW, Microsoft already gives everyone with a LiveID 25GB of storage, as well as automatic synchronization and remote desktop between computers for free. My Phone limits strike me as Microsoft being cautious about their service during beta.