Microsoft and Yahoo are trading blame for a Windows Phone 7 data-drain issue related to synchronization between Yahoo Mail and Windows Phone Mail Client.
Microsoft has
blamed Yahoo Mail for a "data-drain" bug affecting a small subset of Windows
Phone 7 devices. However, Yahoo seems intent on shoveling that blame right back
on its rival-backslash-partner.
The fun
originally began when an unknown subset of Windows Phone 7 users began
complaining their devices devoured data even when not running applications or
cruising the Web. Some of those users reported data consumption in the range of
30MB to 50MB within a 24-hour period.
On Jan. 20,
Microsoft claimed an unnamed third-party application was responsible for the
drain, and that it had taken all appropriate steps to make the application's
developer aware of the issue. A few days later, Within Windows blogger Rafael
Rivera performed a little dissecting of his own and claimed that Yahoo's IMAP
(Internet Message Access Protocol) server (winmo.impa.mail.yahoo.com) was not
responding correctly to Windows Phone's FETCH requests.
Following Rivera's Jan. 31 posting on the subject,
Microsoft officially confirmed what it said was "an inefficiency" in the
"synchronization of e-mail between the Windows Phone Mail client and Yahoo!
mail."
It offered a series of steps for Windows Phone 7 users to
solve the issue, which involves changing Yahoo Mail's settings.
Yahoo, though,
sees the whole issue as one-sided-as in, not Yahoo's problem.
"Yahoo! Mail
is widely available on tens of millions of mobile phones, including those
running on Apple iOS, Android, Nokia Symbian and RIM," read a Yahoo
spokesperson's Feb. 1 e-mail to eWEEK. "The issue on the Windows Phones is
specific to how Microsoft chose to implement IMAP for Yahoo Mail and does not
impact Yahoo! Mail on these other mobile devices."
In addition,
the spokesperson wrote, "Yahoo has offered to provide Microsoft a near-term
solution for the implementation they chose, and is encouraging Microsoft to
change to a standard way of integrating with Yahoo Mail, which would result in
a permanent fix."
Microsoft is
also planning a smartphone software update that will address a separate issue
related to Exchange ActiveSync e-mail synchronization. Other updates, scheduled
to arrive in coming weeks, will tweak application-loading speed and introduce a
cut-and-paste feature. Currently available on GSM-based networks such as
AT&T and T-Mobile, Windows Phone 7 will reportedly appear on CDMA (Code
Division Multiple Access) networks such as Sprint and Verizon before the second
half of 2011.
Despite their
tempest-in-a-teapot over smartphone mail, Microsoft and Yahoo are joined in a
search-and-advertising agreement centered on Bing powering Yahoo's backend
search. Both companies remain locked in fierce competition with Google, which
continues to dominate Web search, and whose Android smartphones and tablets
boast an increasing market share.
Email
Print
