Gartner released a report on Friday that suggested Google’s Gmail solution is ready to take on Microsoft in the enterprise email arena despite having just a tiny fraction of the market. “While Gmail’s enterprise email market share currently hovers around 1 percent, it has close to half of the market for enterprise cloud email,” Gartner research vice president Matthew Cain said. “While cloud email is still in its infancy, at 3 percent to 4 percent of the overall enterprise email market, we expect it to be a growth industry, reaching 20 percent of the market by year-end 2016, and 55 percent by year-end 2020,” Cain added, noting that Gmail should “now be considered a mainstream cloud email supplier.” Microsoft Exchange and Gmail are the only two services that have gained momentum during the past few years while other solutions, such as Novell GroupWise and IBM Lotus Notes/Domino have started to fade out. Cain said that companies should consider splitting their email services between the cloud and on-premises servers which, for now, “plays to Microsoft’s strengths.” Gartner also suggested the Google/Microsoft rivalry will make it tougher for other competitors to enter the industry. Gartner’s full press release follows after the break.

Gartner Says Google Gmail is Now a Viable Alternative to Microsoft in the Enterprise Email Market

Outlook for Cloud Email to Be Discussed at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo

STAMFORD, Conn., September 16, 2011—  After being in the market for five years, Google’s enterprise Gmail is building momentum with commercial organizations with more than 5,000 seats, and it now presents a viable alternative to Microsoft Exchange Online and other cloud email services, according to Gartner, Inc.

“The road to its enterprise enlightenment has been long and bumpy, but Gmail should now be considered a mainstream cloud email supplier,” said Matthew Cain, research vice president at Gartner. “While Gmail’s enterprise email market share currently hovers around 1 percent, it has close to half of the market for enterprise cloud email. While cloud email is still in its infancy, at 3 percent to 4 percent of the overall enterprise email market, we expect it to be a growth industry, reaching 20 percent of the market by year-end 2016, and 55 percent by year-end 2020.”

Mr. Cain said that, other than Microsoft Exchange, Google Gmail is the only email system that has prospered in the enterprise space over the past several years. Other enterprise email providers — Novell GroupWise and IBM Lotus Notes/Domino — have lost market momentum, Cisco closed its cloud email effort and VMware’s Zimbra is only now refocusing on the enterprise space.

Google’s journey to enterprise enlightenment, however, is not complete. Google focuses on capabilities that will have the broadest market uptake. Large organizations with complex email requirements, such as financial institutions, report that Google is resistant to feature requests that would be applicable to only a small segment of its customers. Banks, for example, may require surveillance capabilities that Google is unlikely to build into Gmail given the limited appeal.

While Google is good at taking direction and input on front-end features, it is more resistant to the back-end feature requests that are important to larger enterprises. Large system integrators and enterprises report that Google’s lack of transparency in areas such as continuity, security and compliance can thwart deeper relationships.

“Email is not a commodity, and cloud email is still maturing,” Mr. Cain said. “We believe that, for most organizations, performing one more on-premises upgrade, which will take an organization through 2014, is the most prudent approach. A less-risky approach to cloud email is via a hybrid deployment, where some mailboxes live in the cloud and some are located on premises. This hybrid model plays to Microsoft’s strengths given its vast dominance of the on-premises email market.”

“The intense competition between Microsoft and Google will make both vendors stronger and enable them to apply cloud expertise to other enterprise cloud endeavors,” Mr. Cain said. “The rivalry will make it difficult for other suppliers to compete directly in the cloud email and collaboration space.”

Additional information is available in the Gartner report “Google Gmail Emerges as a Significant Threat to Microsoft in the Enterprise” at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1770424.

Mr. Cain will provide additional analysis on the cloud email at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo.

Moments ago, Microsoft officially released its new cloud-based Office product, Office 365, which will compete directly with Google Docs. The Office 365 suite, which has been in public beta for awhile now, is being targeted at the enterprise market and plans for the entire suite cost between $10 and $27 each month depending on the feature set chosen. Small and medium-sized businesses can also choose a more cost effective $6 option that only includes Office Web Apps and Microsoft Exchange. Those options, however, are all more expensive than the $50 annual fee that Google charges corporate users for access to its Google Docs suite. Microsoft’s full press release follows below.

Microsoft Launches Office 365 Globally

World-class collaboration tools are now available for businesses large and small.

NEW YORK — June 28, 2011 — Today, at media events around the world, Microsoft Corp. announced the availability ofMicrosoft Office 365, the company’s newest cloud service. Office 365 is now available in 40 markets, and it brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online in an always-up-to-date cloud service, at a predictable monthly subscription.

The service was introduced in beta last year with enthusiastic response and, in a few months, more than 200,000 organizations signed up and began testing it. Businesses using Office 365 are already reporting impressive results and reducing IT costs by up to an estimated 50 percent while boosting productivity.

Today, more than 20 service providers around the globe also shared plans to bring Office 365 to their customers this year. Bell Canada, Intuit Inc., NTT Communications Corp., Telefonica S.A., Telstra Corp. and Vodafone Group Plc, among others, will package and sell Office 365 with their own services for small and midsize businesses.

“Great collaboration is critical to business growth, and because it’s so important, we believe the best collaboration technology should be available to everyone,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “With a few clicks, Office 365 levels the playing field, giving small and midsize businesses powerful collaboration tools that have given big businesses an edge for years.”

A Game Changer for Businesses of All Sizes

Office 365 is available in a wide range of service plans designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes, ranging from the largest to the smallest.

With Office 365, people can stay on the “same page” using instant messaging and virtual meetings with people who are just down the hall or across the world. They can work on files and documents at the same time and share ideas as easily as they can share calendars. Office 365 gives people new ways to work together with ease, on virtually any device.

Microsoft Office applications are at the heart of Office 365. Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook and other Office applications connect to Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Lync to deliver a world-class solution for communication and collaboration.

“When I saw Office 365, I knew this was the way businesses would work in the future,” said Elia Wallen, owner of fast-growing temporary housing provider Travelers Haven. “With Office 365, I’m going to save $100,000 a year and cut 30 hours of work a day across my 35 employees, but most importantly, my team is going to be able to work together better — no matter where they are.”

More stories from businesses that have tried Office 365 are available athttp://www.microsoft.com/casestudies.

Office 365 Partners

Microsoft is building a massive partner ecosystem around Office 365, including systems integrators, software vendors, resellers and other partners. Today, that ecosystem is expanding as the company partners in new ways with market-leading service providers. These companies will package Office 365 with their own services — from Web hosting and broadband to finance solutions and mobile services — and bring those new offerings to millions of small and midsize businesses globally.

“Our partners represent some of the best-known, most-trusted brands in their local markets,” said Kurt DelBene, president, Microsoft Office Division. “Our customers will be able to rest easy knowing their cloud services are backed by Microsoft and some of the greatest service providers in the world.”

A list of Office 365 service provider partners is available here.

About Office 365

Office 365 offers a range of service plans for a predictable monthly price from $2 to $27 per user per month. With Office 365 for small businesses, customers can be up and running with Office Web Apps, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and an external website in minutes, for $6 (U.S.) per user, per month. These tools put enterprise-grade email, shared documents, instant messaging, video and Web conferencing, portals, and more at everyone’s fingertips.

Office 365 for enterprises has an array of choices, from simple email to comprehensive suites to meet the needs of midsize and large businesses, as well as government organizations. Customers can now get Microsoft Office Professional Plus on a pay-as-you-go basis with cloud-based versions of the industry’s leading business communications and collaboration services. Each of these plans comes with the advanced IT controls, innovative security technologies, 24/7 IT support and reliability customers expect from Microsoft.

Availability

Office 365 for small businesses and Office 365 for enterprises are available now. Businesses can try Office 365 for free for 30 days by signing up at http://www.office365.com or from their local Microsoft partner. Follow Office 365 on Twitter (@Office365), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/office365) and the Office 365 blog at http://community.office365.comfor the latest information.

According to a Bernstein note issued on Monday morning, Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone will not include Near field communication (NFC) capabilities as had been previously rumored on several occasions. NFC, which will be featured in RIM’s 2011 BlackBerry smartphone lineup, allows cell phones and other devices to transmit data wirelessly over short distances. Unlike Bluetooth, NFC connections do not require a pairing process, so NFC is well suited for applications such as mobile payments, as it is currently being used in several markets around the world. In the U.S. at the moment, carriers, manufacturers, banks and other companies are all independently working on various solutions. Without better standards, it will be difficult for the technology to take off in the mass market.

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Motorola has announced that there is a new software update available for the Verizon Wireless DROID Pro. Unfortunately the patch will not update your DROID Pro to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), but it should reduce the frequency of UI lockups, offer improved audio during calls, and the following fixes:

Improved audio on voice calls.

Improved stability and performance.

User interface display now refreshes when user switches from GSM/UMTS communication to Global Mode.

Device now prepends 011 to Country Code to send SMS messages.

Global Mode no longer resets when connecting to a USB charger.

Visual Voice Mail now detects airplane mode while Wi-Fi is active.

Prompt return to full screen brightness after wake-up.

Upgraded Bluetooth firmware.

Improved interoperability with Microsoft Internet Application Gateway (IAG) configurations.

Device string format for Exchange changed to include device name and version number.

Upgrade to Google applications Release 7

For more information on the software update, hit up Verizon Wireless’ support forums located at www.verizonwireless.com/droidprosupport.

[Via Mobile Burn]

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Think you can avoid having corporate email on your mobile device by buying a feature phone? Think again, as today Verizon Wireless announced an update to its feature phone email solution, Mobile Email 4.0. The downloadable application will allow users to connect their non-smartphone devices to Microsoft’s Exchange environment, leverage push email, and utilize an integrated contact list. The service will retail for $5 per month and is available to those with a data plan of at least $15 per month. The software is currently compatible with eight VZW phones, including the Samsung Zeal, LG Cosmos Touch, and Pantech Crux. Hit the read link for the full PR.

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Apple has made changes to its internal screening process pertaining to iPod liquid damage, a source told BGR. Apple builds a series of Liquid Contact Indicators (LCI) into its iPod line of devices. When these LCIs come in contact with moisture, they become activated. In the event of a warranty claim or other repair, the LCIs indicate to Apple that the device in question may have been affected by a liquid. Employees of Apple Stores and AppleCare Repair Centers then have specific guidelines used in the event liquid damage is suspected. Previously, the presence of an activated LCI within the headphone jack was cause enough for employees to state that an iPod may have been damaged by water or another liquid. Now, employees must first inspect the iPod for other signs of liquid damage before reaching that conclusion. It is currently not known if the new policy applies to iPhone models as well.

Whether or not Apple has concerns internally regarding the reliability of its LCI devices is unclear at this time. Apple may have also discovered LCIs located within the headphone jack are overly sensitive and activate even when they come in contact with permissible amounts of moisture.

Today, Samsung and AT&T announced an over-the-air update for the Captivate handset to address the units GPS performance. As the two companies state:

An update to improve the Samsung Captivate’s GPS performance is now available. Captivate customers will receive a notification on their device that an update is available and will simply need to download the file to update their phone. The updates will be pushed to customers’ devices over the next few weeks.

The update for the Captivate will also improve additional device functions, such as media scanning time, add the full version of QuickOffice and address Microsoft Exchange 2003 policy support.

We know that for many Captivate users this fix can’t come soon enough.

According to a report filed by CNET, Microsoft’s free email service — Hotmail — will get Exchange ActiveSync support beginning on Monday. The site quotes Microsoft’s director of product management for the Windows Live, Dharmesh Mehta, as the source of the information. There isn’t much else to say about it, if you have a desktop client or mobile device that supports the ActiveSync protocol you’ll have access to push email, contacts, and calendar appointments in approximately four days. Any Hotmail users out there excited?

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Yesterday afternoon, a Motorola employee named Matt dropped this little nugget in the company’s official forums:

Some Droid X users are experiencing an issue using Exchange 2003 email. Though the email is arriving on the Droid X, no notifications are appearing. A fix for this will be included in the upgrade to Android 2.2 scheduled for deployment by early September.

The post is the closest thing to an official date released by Motorola; up until now the software update has been coming “soon” or “this summer.” Anybody disappointed by the September timeline? Anyone seeing the Exchange 2003 issue Matt goes on to mention in the post?

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Complaints are starting to mount from iOS 4 users that are having a difficult time synchronizing their iDevice with their Exchange environments. The bug in question prevents iOS 4 from synchronizing email, calendar, or contact data from a users Exchange server to an iOS 4 device (usually just one of the three data points won’t synchronize, and from the looks of it Calendar is the big one). Apple released a knowledge base article with a potential quick-fix, but a quick gander at the Apple discussion boards tells us that it didn’t quite get the job done. Add this latest snafu to the list of fires Apple is currently trying to extinguish. How about it, anyone having issues with their iOS 4 device synching to an Exchange server?

Oh man, this is definitely not something we wanted to hear: Microsoft has announced on its blog that Office for Mac 2011 will only ship as a 32-bit version. Citing a need for enhanced compatibility between the Office for Windows and Office for Mac over high-power performance, Microsoft said that it would not have been possible for its team to create a 64-bit version of Office 2011″because Apple’s frameworks require us to complete the move to Cocoa before we can build a 64-bit version.” Office 2011 is not 100% Cocoa. Microsoft is downplaying the lack of 64-bit support by stating that “most users with typical or even larger-than-average document content will not notice a difference in performance” and that the only area “64-bit can make a difference is for people working with huge amounts of data.” You know, like the professionals who are champing at the bit for Office 2011 and its inclusion of Outlook.

[Via ZDNet]

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Not long after it pledged to update the myTouch 3G to Android 2.1, today a leaked document from T-Mobile revealed that the carrier is planning to further kick it up a notch with the release of Android 2.2. In addition to that, myTouch 3G owners will also get an updated version of the Faves Gallery alongside the addition to the Genius button and support for Exchange. No word yet on when the update will actually drop, but we imagine this update will involve at least a little bit of an agonizing wait.

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Over the past few days we’ve been playing around the latest beta release of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. Many of the changes made are hard to appreciate without actually seeing the application suite in use, and for that reason alone we have assembled a massive gallery of screenshots. On the other hand, images can be meaningless without a bit of an explanation so we’ve put down a brief summary of our initial thoughts. You can check them all out after the jump.

Across the board, each application has had its UI completely overhauled as Microsoft has made the wise decision to redo the entire layout of the application suite. Instead of the awful configuration found in Office for Mac 2008, 2011 draws from both Office 2007 and Office 2010 for Windows. In fact, it did such a good job that we can’t think of a reason why someone who is used to one OS wouldn’t be able to jump into the other and get work done in Office. One of the main reasons for this is Ribbons. Microsoft has finally conceded that people don’t like using the attractive but horribly implemented Toolbox found in previous versions of Office for Mac. Yes, the option to use the Toolbox is still there, but it’s no longer nearly impossible to get away without using it. One nice thing we will say about the Toolbox is that if you’re heavily into incorporating multimedia into your documents, the Toolbox is now fully integrated with iPhoto, iTunes, Photo Booth and Garage Band. It works phenomenally well. Speaking of things working, Excel finally has working support for macros. We can’t even tell you how happy this makes nerds like us. But back to Ribbons. They just make life so much easier. Basically every option you could ever want to use is attractively presented to you through the ribbons. What this does is allow you to save yourself an awful lot of time navigating the menu bar, hence why Microsoft calls the Ribbon a “Fluent User Interface”.

Sadly there is a pretty big weak link in Office 2011: Outlook. It seems that Microsoft simply sacrificed brains for beauty. Don’t get us wrong. It’s definitely the best and most powerful email client we’ve ever used on OS X, but after using it for 10 minutes we honestly gave up on it. Why? Because it simply requires more work to get simple tasks done than on the Windows version. It sucks to say it, but given the choice between using the new Outlook for Mac and virtualizing Outlook for Windows, we’d go with the latter any day. We’ve got more that 50 screenshots lined up for your eyes to feast upon, so check them out, ok?

Click on over to our Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 gallery!

If you’re a fan of low-cost messaging phones with a social twist, prepare to lose your mind, for Nokia today announced three such devices in the C3, C6 and E5. The most basic of the bunch is the C3, which just so happens to be the first Symbian S40 device to ever feature a full-QWERTY keypad. It offers a 2.4″ QVGA display, 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Ovi Chat, Ovi Mail and support for microSD cards up to 8GB. It will be be available in golden white, slate grey and hot pink in Q2 for 90€ ($122 USD). Next up is the C6. A full touchscreen with a sliding horizontal QWERTY keypad, the C6 bring to the table a 3.2″ 360×640 display, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and Ovi Maps. Look for it next quarter for 220€ ($299 USD). Finally we have the E5. Expected to be available in Q3 for 180€ ($224 USD), it crams a 2.4″ QVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA, GPS, Wi-Fi and support for Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes into its tiny candybar frame. As always, we’ve got Nokia’s little promo videos queued up after the break.

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One of our Verizon connects just came through for us in a huge way by passing along the entire spec list for the fast approaching HTC Incredible. There’s not a whole lot for us to say with this one so we’ll let the specs do the talking, but damn can we not wait to finally get our hands on this phone.

Key takeaways:

• 4.63″ x 2.3″ x 0.47″, 4.59 oz.
• Android 2.1 “Eclair” with Sense UI
• 1GHz Snapdragon QSG8650 processor
• 512MB ROM / 512MB RAM
• Dual-band EV-DO Rev. A
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
• GPS
• 3.7″ WVGA OLED capacitive display
• 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus and video capture
• HTML browser with Flash Lite 4.0
• Microsoft Exchange support
• 8GB internal memory
• microSD support for up to 32GB
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Accelerometer
• 312 minutes talk time / 149 hours standby
• Pre-loaded with Google Calendar, Gmail, Search, Maps, Latitude, Navigation and Talk

Be honest… Who’s excited?