ShareThisGoogle is continuing on its path to world domination, this time releasing new software that extends the reach of its mail product onto mobile phones.
Many small companies are moving to the Gmail platform for their business e-mail needs but were stuck when users wanted to sync their calendar or contacts to their Microsoft Windows smartphone or their Apple Iphone. Such functionality before had been limited to business platforms like Microsoft Exchange or RIM's Blackberry.
But not anymore. This week Google released the beta of "Google Sync" which licenses some technology from Microsoft to help make phones sync happily outside of a corporate environment.
"For iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, Google Sync allows you to get your Gmail contacts and Google Calendar events to your phone," says the announcement on the Google Mobile blog. "Once you set up Sync on your phone, it will automatically begin synchronizing your address book and calendar in the background, over the air, so you can attend to other tasks."
This is important because the sync will happen as a "push" to your phone according to the settings you select. A few things to keep in mind when you set this up. One, obviously make sure you have the right data plan to make this happen. If you don't have an unlimited data plan make sure you can financially handle the hit of the sync. (I can't imagine your calendar or contacts will add that much to the data stream but if you're busy, it might.) And keep in mind you don't have to be logged in to your account to make the changes happen.
(This comes in the wake of a leaked announcement from Microsoft that it plans to release a similar service soon called "My Phone" for Windows Mobile users. It is expected to also include a backup plan for data stored on phones.)
In limited testing Google Sync worked just as expected but there is one thing to keep in mind; if your Google mail is administered by your company you will need your e-mail administrators to allow the sync and, most importantly, if you install Google Sync it will erase all contacts and calendar information on your phone so make sure you don't need that information before your installation.
Do keep in mind if you already use Microsoft Exchange for your work e-mail, this product is not for you either; this will not co-exist well with Exchange at this point and you will need to basically pick one or the other. (I would keep your work e-mail if you like your job.)
But this is a nice product that has a good price (free) that will fill a niche in this age of Smartphones and Gmail. I still think the march to the $100 laptop is overlooking that the $100 laptop is really already in our pocket in the disguise of the Windows Mobile smartphone.
That may be a reach for today but we're pretty close...there is not a lot I can't do in a pinch on my phone (besides play Mafia Wars on Facebook.)
(James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer repair firm and a tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His e-mail address is jim(at)cyberdads.com)
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