Cemaphore, which synchronizes e-mail, calendars and contacts between Google Apps and Microsoft, today said it is enabling Exchange support on Android.
Cemaphore MailShadow for Google Apps, or MailShadowG, will now let users publish Exchange content — e-mail, contacts and calendar information — onto Google’s Android mobile operating system.
So, G1 owners looking for this integration may soon be able to leverage this synchronization if their businesses pick up Cemaphore’s MailShadowG solution, according to Cemaphore CEO and President Tyrone Pike:
“We are currently working with some very large service providers around the world right now who see that as a real need,” Pike told me, noting that while Research in Motion makes the BlackBerry desktop redirector for synchronization, Android doesn’t have such a function.
This is big news, though not a shock by any means. Much has been made about the fact that the T-Mobile G1 smart phone doesn’t sync with Microsoft Exchange since Google’s Android creator Andy Rubin pawned off to third parties at the Sept. 23 G1 unveiling.
The prevailing sentiment is that if there is no support for Exchange, which underpins millions of IT shops around the world, the G1 and Android can’t be considered serious enterprise products.
Well, businesses have an option now. As most of you know, you pretty much have to be a big Google user to use the G1 because the search and apps are so tightly integrated. With MailShadowG, you’ll be able to access your Exchange data through Google Gmail.
This is great news for individuals and businesses looking to access data from a legacy on-premise app through the cloud. From now until Nov. 30, solo end users and businesses can subscribe to MailShadowG for $29.95 per user, per year. After that date, it will cost nearly double, $49.95.
Cemaphore’s news comes in conjunction with its launch of MailShadow for Exchange, or MailShadowX.
This allows users to access Gmail, Google Calendar and other Google Apps data through Microsoft’s Exchange Online. After MailShadowG ported Exchange data to Google Apps, MailShadowX shows that one good turn deserves another.