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Research in Motion (RIM) has built its business on selling handhelds with push email. This means that as soon as an incoming email arrives on the server, it is pushed out to the device, and the user is immediately notified of it.

Push email turns out to be a feature that many find addicting, and it has made RIM very profitable. Not surprisingly, other companies are trying to imitate RIM's success. One of these is Microsoft.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 offers a limited version of push email now, but the software giant intends to get serious about it in the near future.

The current version of Exchange has AUTD, which allows the server to send a message to the handheld to do a wireless ActiveSync whenever a new email arrives. However, it can't transmit just the email. The Pocket PC must go through a full ActiveSync session.

According to The Economist, the upcoming versions of Exchange and Windows Mobile will support true push email.

While this feature will definitely be added to the Pocket PC version of this operating system, it is not clear at this point if it will also be available in the version for smartphones.

Windows Mobile 2005 is expected to be available in the coming months.

Thanks to Pocket PC Thoughts for the tip.

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