Exchange/iPhone users, you’ve finally gotten the Google hookup. ActiveSync has been added to the Google repertoire allowing gmail users to sync their contacts and calendars in the same fashion that Exchange and Kerio users can, although mail will still need to go through IMAP, which is fairly straight forward to configure. This means that Google Mail is finally in serious competition with a few other players in the messaging market. At this point, Google has finally knocked down one of the serious barriers I had with gmail adoption for companies. I am glad to see that they realize (and I’m sure have realized but just got the kinks worked out) that no one cares about just a mail server any more. They also want the anti-spam, which Google already added and the mobility features to go along with it. With Gears for Mac OS X and the ability to take Google Apps offline I’m starting to see a comprehensive strategy coming together and I’m liking what I see.
For more information on ActiveSync for the iPhone, click here.