IMAP Problem for Windows Mobile Fixed

Back in October, when IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) was rolled out for Gmail and syncing between the messages sent or received on their mobile phone and the mail accounts became possible, the problems started pouring in at the help desk. Among them were Windows Mobile not being able to take advantage of the new option and several Gmail accounts being blocked.

Whilst the second was quickly fixed and the cause was made well known (aggressive use of IMAP), the first still remained on the "known issues" page that Google had set up. The "symptoms" of malfunction were either HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) messages showing up entirely blank or only showing the headers.

Quietly, the problem was solved and, as of last week, the forums have started showing posts from people acknowledging that. Moreover, the Gmail dev team has posted instructions to configuring the IMAP for Microsoft Mobile 6 phones. After a timetable that looked like it was ripped from soap operas, the movement against Google related to this issue came to a stop.

Google had one of its spokespeople confirm the fix and the statement said that Friday was the first day it worked the way it should have, ever since its launch. Meanwhile, on Monday, it was still high up on the "known issues" page. Probably, somebody pulled their sleeve about it, so yesterday it was removed. No sign about what has happened with the exception of the 181 replies to the thread related.

This looks to be a definitive fix and not a workaround, like some have suggested, because the users don't have to do anything else except try it out and see the way it works. A little late, but after all, it's better than never. Google would have lost a lot of sympathy capital over this, if it dragged on longer.