Microsoft confirms MyPhone, invite-only beta coming to MWC

Remember that alleged Microsoft MyPhone beta page that popped up on getskybox.com yesterday? It's back up now and being hosted under the company's official domain, with everything apparently intact except that tantalizing "Sign In" button. According to a statement from the gang at Redmond, a limited invite-only beta is in the cards, and more details on the syncing service formerly known as SkyBox are coming to Mobile World Congress later this month. As for the beta itself, the wording's a bit ambiguous here -- will we just be getting new details on the trial or will the signup actually launch then? Looks like we'll find out for sure in just over a week.

[Berka @ Feb 7th 2009 4:30PM]

doch ein Microsoft Handy, mal sehen !

[no_one @ Feb 7th 2009 5:15PM]

huso

[ImaYam @ Feb 7th 2009 5:28PM]

SHNELL!! SHNELL!!
lol

[Evangelion @ Feb 7th 2009 5:58PM]

Bratwurst? O_o

[Berka @ Feb 7th 2009 6:06PM]

maybe there will be a Microsoft Phone

( on English )

[DeoWulf @ Feb 7th 2009 10:22PM]

"Mobile phone" is "Handy" in German? That's awesome.

"Got your handy?"
"It's in my lederhosen"

[webon @ Feb 7th 2009 11:54PM]

Gesundheit!

[Freakin Ijit @ Feb 7th 2009 4:31PM]

Kicks Palm Pre's Synergy in the teeth, don't it?

[Alex Padilla @ Feb 7th 2009 4:42PM]

Not by a long shot.

You don't even know how MyPhone or Synergy works first-hand, how can you even say that?

[drill @ Feb 7th 2009 4:55PM]

... I suppose you know how MyPhone and Synergy work first hand then?

[Darren @ Feb 7th 2009 5:00PM]

It'd be better if they called it MobileMe Phone.

[Alex Padilla @ Feb 7th 2009 5:00PM]

Me? No. But I've not made any baseless claims, so my lacking first-hand knowledge is irrelevant.

[Flashpoint @ Feb 7th 2009 5:07PM]

Is it came down to buying software from Palm or from buying it from Apple/Microsoft... I'm choosing Apple/Microsoft.

As much rage as the Pre is generating, its never going to even touch Apple's iPhone market share. Its basically gonna just be an option for people who don't like Apple products. Just like all those piece of shit LG iclones.

[Major4Play @ Feb 7th 2009 5:45PM]

ummm flashpoint the LG Prada was first seen in Dec 06, back when the iPhone was still a rumour, so how is it an iClone ?

[Freakin Ijit @ Feb 7th 2009 6:03PM]

> ...You don't even know how MyPhone or Synergy works first-hand...

True, but we "know" Synergy =will= (not does!) use an SQL database for its thang, thus we can do some serious extrapolation and say daemons on phone or off (probably on, unless Palm's going to charge for the capability - then off!) will be doing the database loading from all those sites Palm says will have their data combined and multi-synced with.

But why do we care HOW these things work, if they work...somewhat similarly?

If enough functionality is common across the many different implementations of "cloud syncing", enough that those prosumers are sufficiently content, then Palm's teeth get kicked in.

[Bill Jobs @ Feb 7th 2009 7:16PM]

@Darren

It would be even better if their logo looked like an Apple logo, just how the MobileMe logo looked like the Windows ME logo.

[Dave @ Feb 8th 2009 12:35AM]

At least the Palm Pre will sync with stuff I actually use. Right now I use two Windows Mobile devices (HTC Touch & HTC Touch Diamond) on the Sprint network. I'm totally looking forward to replacing the HTC Touch when the Palm Pre releases. I'm digging how it will sync with gmail and facebook. It totally reminds me of the Xobni addin I'm currently using with Outlook that does some limited syncing with facebook and linkedin. This new offering by Microsoft would be cool if it synced my phones with the cloud but also then simultaneously synced my Outlook with the cloud. But with Microsoft I'm doubting it. One thing you can't argue with is the fact that Microsoft has had a long history of their different offerings not always working with one another. Apple on the other hand has a much different track record. I can't believe I'm actually typing this because I'm not an Apple fan at all. Other than a couple iPods the last Apple product I had was the old Apple IIc back in the early 80's. I'm just hoping Microsoft finally gets it right but based on the fact that there's a whole lot of different flavors of Windows 7 coming down the pipe, I'm not holding my breath.

[jean-b @ Feb 8th 2009 3:46PM]

@Darren : MobileMe as in "Exchange for the rest of us" ?

[iApple @ Feb 7th 2009 4:31PM]

poop on your vanilla ice cream

[webon @ Feb 7th 2009 11:57PM]

ur name is wha?

[Sora @ Feb 7th 2009 4:36PM]

Because I know at least one person will post with "OH THIS IS MOBILEME GG REDMOND YOU RIPPED OFF OUR APPLE OVERLORDS!":

It doesn't matter who did it first, all that matters is who does it better.

(in before "...And the group to do it better is ")

[Jon A. @ Feb 7th 2009 4:39PM]

Danger, the makers of the Sidekick, did it first. That's why Microsoft bought them last year.

[Spyke @ Feb 7th 2009 5:27PM]

Actually, I think you'll find Mobical did it first.

[Jon A. @ Feb 7th 2009 5:47PM]

I could be wrong, but it seems like Mobical came out in 2004. The Sidekick was released in 2002. But I think SyncML, the standard Mobical uses, is older than the Sidekick.

So Nokia could have done it first, but all that really matters is the fact Apple is pretty late to the game with there MobileMe stuff. Sorry, Darren. :)

[WixosTrix @ Feb 7th 2009 4:37PM]

i'm really excited about all this Microsoft stuff. They are doing pretty well with all this syncing together stuff. cant wait for it all to come out of beta and see how it ultimately works.

[Berka @ Feb 7th 2009 4:52PM]

Ich glaube schon dass ein Microsoft Handy am WMC Barcelona rauskommt, bin mir 100% sicher

[KarlW @ Feb 7th 2009 8:02PM]

If you can understand this article and the comments, you can understand English, so comment in it. Or use a translator.

As for the synching, it'll be good for somebody to get it right. Apple tried and MobileMe works, but it's certainly not good enough that I'd like syncing technology to stop right there. There's lots of work to do. I just hope Microsoft doesn't try and tie it in to Windows too much - Apple makes their stuff work on Windows, but Microsoft tends to just ignore the Mac - like they do for Messenger and Office (which is decent, but nowhere near as good as Office on Windows - either Microsoft are idiots or they're crippling it to position Windows as the business computer). There are Microsoft customers using OSes other than Windows, and if Microsoft realises that and gets this syncing service properly cross-platform, they should have something interesting.

[Microtard @ Feb 7th 2009 10:11PM]

@KarlW: Microsoft tends to ignore the Mac? it has the largest Mac dev team outside of Apple. As far as Sync goes - ahem, Live Mesh Mac client, Windows Live Sync Mac client. 'nuff said...

[Timm @ Feb 7th 2009 5:19PM]

No thanks Microsoft.

I'll stand by Palm, Garmin, and Apple before I'll ever consider MS.

[Eros @ Feb 7th 2009 4:48PM]

Now we can have @metoo.com email id :D

[queeg @ Feb 7th 2009 4:55PM]

All right! A ZunePhone!

[Jonathan @ Feb 7th 2009 7:32PM]

The image kinda looks like a Zune phone.

[Anthony @ Feb 7th 2009 4:55PM]

MyPhone, sounds a lot like iPhone, eh?

[Darren @ Feb 7th 2009 5:00PM]

No, it sounds a lot like MobileMe.

[NHAnimator @ Feb 8th 2009 9:17AM]

Why does Engadget write My Phone as one word, while everyone else writes it as two?

[Decoy @ Feb 8th 2009 3:49PM]

Uhm, became MyPhone sounds more like iPhone than My Phone does?

[cronick @ Feb 7th 2009 4:56PM]

Is there gonna be a "MyPhony Zune" fat guy with a "MyPhony Zune" logo tattoo on his arm?

[waiownsyou @ Feb 7th 2009 5:00PM]

I sense a bad Simpsons reference.

[MrNuclear @ Feb 8th 2009 5:41PM]

There are no bad Simpsons references!

[Magallanes @ Feb 7th 2009 5:33PM]

If this service is for free then fine, otherwise is pointless cause you can do a backup at full speed using a inexpensive cable and your pc, and you can use a free service to upload your media without needing to contract a service (i use Shozu and its impressible in this aspect).

[AT @ Feb 9th 2009 7:31AM]

The only way I see Microsoft having an edge on MobileMe is if they at least match every service that Apple offer and in addition to this allow any email account to be registered and synced with a users mobile and not just one's hotmail.com/live.com email address. If MobileMe allowed any email address to be synced and pushed to the mobile it would attract many users who do not wish to be limited an @me.com email address.

[Bloobie @ Feb 7th 2009 11:27PM]

This has nothing to do with the cloud service. If the email service itself does not support push, then it doesn't matter what sync service you use. Neither MS nor Apple can push Gmail messages to your mobile phone, for example.

[bob e @ Feb 7th 2009 5:45PM]

I don't get it,

my Win mobile phone already syncs with my Outlook calendar and contacts. No need to back-up and restore as it is already synced.

I am confused.

[The Angry Intern @ Feb 7th 2009 5:45PM]

riiiigggghhhttt, and microsoft is not working on a cell phone

[Major4Play @ Feb 7th 2009 5:49PM]

No Microsoft is not working on a mobile phone because they would piss off alot of OEMs with long term licensing deals.

MobileMe was just a revamped, renamed .Mac using Google's online services are we really all thinking this is an Apple innovation ?

If you need to be able to access your office files and stuff on the go I'm sure it's a godsend but I don't so meh!

[Bloobie @ Feb 7th 2009 11:27PM]

And this has stopped them from doing it before? Ever hear of the Zune, which essentially killed PlaysForSure with its release?

[joe @ Feb 7th 2009 5:49PM]

I use ActiveSync and CardScan to complete an online backup. An automatic wireless backup would probably be easier to setup for most people so that they do not lose their contacts. I have not used MobileMe, but I would also guess that most of the Microsoft Mobile haters above have not used v6.1 with TouchFlo which is a nice OS and shell.

[dvsbstrd @ Feb 7th 2009 6:16PM]

Mapple is going to shit a brick about this.

[Quikboy @ Feb 7th 2009 6:18PM]

Backing up data? Syncing and sharing data? Sound already a whole lot like Microsoft's own SkyDrive/Mesh/Sync.

They should really just keep it simple, and call it Live Sync/SkyDrive Mobile. But nope; someone on the branding team just doesn't understand consistency. My Phone (it's two words Engadget!) seems pretty uncreative, and very generic (How do I explain what My Phone does on MY phone?). I'm hoping it's just a temporary name until it's final.

[Spudly @ Feb 7th 2009 7:01PM]

Get a real brand name you craptastic copycats!