Apple may be in talks with Microsoft to license its Exchange ActiveSync protocol in order to make the iPhone compatible with Exchange Server, reports Mary Jo Foley for ZDNet. The lack of compatibility with Exchange Server has been a major issue for IT departments, and has been widely reported in so-called iPhone backlash articles.
Foley claims that her sources say that Apple will soon announce that it has licensed the protocol, although details on when it would be implemented on the iPhone are not given. Directions on Microsoft analyst Matt Rosoff says the deal would make sense, stating, “Apple and Microsoft would sign a deal to incorporate ActiveSync into the iPhone, just as Nokia, Motorola, and PalmOne are doing.
So this wouldn’t be anything new from Microsoft’s perspective, just a deal with a new telephone handset maker — Apple.”
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