Microsoft Previews SkyBox, Calls It My Phone

Microsoft has provided the world with a sneak peek at its upcoming online synchronization service for Windows Mobile. Some know this service as SkyBox. The service won’t be called SkyBox, however. Instead, it will be called My Phone.

The website for the service (getskybox.com) was live earlier but appears down now. The site isn’t fully functional yet, but it did provide a look at what the service will likely offer. Targeted at consumers who want Exchange-like functionality without having to pay for an additional service, My Phone lets you back up your address book and calendar data to a remote server. My Phone will also let you synchronize photos and other files with the remote server, but it will not synchronize email. Furthermore, My Phone users will be able to access and make changes to their personal information including contacts and calendar appointments via a website and have those changes reflected on their smartphone after they synchronize. That’s another difference from Exchange functionality: You’ll have to synchronize, changes won’t sync automatically.

Thanks to My Phone, the average consumer will have added peace of mind if his phone is ever lost or stolen since the contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information (up to 200MB) stored on My Phone will still be available. In addition, when it comes time to upgrade to a new smartphone, the information can easily transfer to the new device as well.

The service is expected to be available for no charge and will be compatible with most new devices running Windows Mobile 6 or newer. Unconfirmed reports claim the official announcement for the service will come at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow later this month.