Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer might have managed to declare himself a keyboard junkie as far as mobile phones are concerned at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference 2008, but that failed to impress crowds of consumers gathering to buy the new iPhone 3G launched today. And although Ballmer noted the extensive extra effort implied by typing an email without a proper keyboard, like the ones featured by the Windows mobile phones, Microsoft still licenses Exchange ActiveSync to Apple for iPhone 2.0. Adam Glick, a Technical Product Manager with Microsoft's Unified Communications group, applauded iPhone 3G's new capability to connect to Exchange Server.

"Apple released iPhone 2.0 today which includes a software update to the existing iPhones in the market (yes, we mentioned it when it was announced as well). We're thrilled to add them to the family of Exchange ActiveSync licensees that enable all sorts of devices to connect to Exchange Server. For those of you that manage Exchange Servers this means you may see some new devices connecting and we wanted to give you a few notes about what to expect," Glick stated.

Apple has not been mute about the added support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, although initially it kept the licensing deal under wraps and only managed to confirm it in March 2008. With the new data synchronization service from Microsoft, Apple's iPhone 3G enables end users to access contacts, emails and calendar via their phone. The move is aimed to increase iPhone's appeal for business users.

"So now you know what the iPhone will look like connected to your servers using Exchange ActiveSync (instead of IMAP) and how to find out who is using them in your organization. We're glad to have Apple connecting their devices to Exchange Server and hope you have fun using these tools to stay informed about when iPhones connect to your Exchange Server," Glick added.