Palms Get Blackberry-Like E-Mail

Owners of connected Palms can now get Blackberry-like access to their corporate e-mail using a new service and software from Visto.

Palmsource, the Palm spin-off that makes and markets the Palm operating system, is teaming with Visto on a MessageXpress, a new e-mail client and service. Free trials of Visto MessageXpress for Corporate E-Mail Access are available. Pricing will be $99 yearly, plus related charges from your mobile phone's service plan. The pair announced MessageXpress last week at the CeBIT America show in New York.

Conduit to E-Mail

By installing a desktop client and handheld software, owners of connected Palms can get e-mail from Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, POP3, or IMAP accounts, without requiring an assist from a corporate technology support staff. Palmsource says the new handheld client, called MessageXpress, will become the default e-mail application for the Palm OS.

MessageXpress desktop software basically sends a copy of each e-mail message to Visto servers, where it is stored securely for relay to the Palm device. Palm owners can customize the synchronization schedule of their handhelds with Visto's servers.

The service preserves copies of mail for the desktop, but can be configured so that when you delete your e-mail on the handheld, it's also deleted on your corporate server. This is an important time-saving feature, since otherwise youa??d have to delete the mail again on the desktop.

Palm owners wishing to try out the MessageXpress can sign up at Visto's Web site.

Partnering Up

The Visto announcement is among several recent Palmsource initiatives aimed at making Palms more corporate-friendly, as well as becoming a more vigorous competitor to Pocket PCs in corporate enterprises.

Palmsource has also announced an agreement with IBM to provide better tools for developing Web services applications for Palms. The company is also teaming with Novell to market mobile messaging and other tools for Novell GroupWise and Palm users.