Palm-Based Treos Get Push E-Mail
Palm’s Treo 680 and 700p smartphones are getting what BlackBerries and Windows-based smartphones, including Palm’s Windows-based models themselves, have long enjoyed: push e-mail.
On Thursday, Palm announced an update to Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, the program that links Palm’s VersaMail e-mail client with Microsoft’s Exchange e-mail server. The update will let Exchange servers push e-mail, contacts, and calendar items directly to Palm-based smartphones over the air, a key feature in the business market for mobile e-mail.
The update extends Microsoft’s Direct Push technology to the Palm platform, meaning users don’t have to open an e-mail program themselves and click send/receive to request e-mail from a server. To users, the result is seamless message reception, whether they’re in a coffee shop, a boardroom, or the bedroom.
Getting Pushy
Push e-mail burst into view with RIM’s BlackBerry, the first device to deliver e-mail to handhelds automatically. And for years, push was RIM’s ace-in-the-hole, a distinct advantage over Microsoft, which offers two flavors of Windows Mobile, and Palm, whose Garnet operating system still holds a large share of the handheld market.
But Microsoft countered RIM’s advantage in 2006 with Direct Push, an Exchange component that let I.T. departments and data centers push their Exchange data to Microsoft smartphones without adding new servers or infrastructure, as RIM’s solution demands.
And while Palm-based handhelds have long synched with Exchange servers, they have not — until now — been able to send or receive Exchange data from the field without third party add-ons or costly middleware.
All This and Security, Too
Palm’s move does more than give users convenience. It gives I.T. managers a new level of control over Palm-based handhelds.
First up? Password management. With the update to Exchange ActiveSync, Palm lets I.T. managers enforce password policies over the air. It also lets them remove data — that can run afoul of compliance…
