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Mobile Sync Solutions Evaluated

Funambol has reviewed 12 mobile sync solutions targeting mobile cloud solutions, taking into account costs, features, devices supported and more. If you are looking for a phone or a sync solution for your existing phone, this report could aid you in your decision making.

Funambol did the study, so I don't really have to tell you who won given Funambol is all about keeping data in the cloud for your devices, but that doesn't take anything away from the report. Note that they didn't evaluate enterprise server solutions like Blackberry Enterprise Server or Exchange Server. Microsoft and RIM were represented, but in the form of Microsoft My Phone and Blackberry Internet Service.

Key features looked at were cost, numbers and types of devices supported, what type of data was synchronized, whether or not there was a web portal available from your desktop to access your phone's data, performance and more. Each feature was given a score of between 1 and 4. Everything was tallied up and ranked. The best score a service could get was 40. The scores were:

• Funambol - 38
• Nokia Ovi - 28
• Apple MobileMe - 27
• Palm Synergy - 27
• MS My Phone - 26
• Vodafone Zyb - 26
• Google Sync - 23
• BlackBerry IS - 21
• Yahoo! Mobile - 21
• AT&T - 19
• T-Mobile - 19
• Verizon - 19

You'll note that some of the above services like Google Sync and MS My Phone are still in pre-release or beta stages, so those might improve before the final release, or they could go down if there is a cost associated with them after the beta is over.

How you look at the data depends on where you are coming from with your current situation. For example, if you have an iPhone, then Apple's MobileMe is a serious contender, even though it costs $99 per year, compared with free for 75% of the above services. However, if you have a Blackberry, then it doesn't matter how much you like MobileMe's features. Apple's service only works with the iPhone.

Likewise, if you have Verizon as your carrier, there is no point in drooling over features of what T-Mobile offers, or network specific devices like the Palm Pre (Sprint) or iPhone (AT&T) as they won't work with your carrier. Only Funambol and Yahoo! Mobile work with hundreds of devices. The rest are limited to a single platform, such as Blackberry IS (Blackberry) or MS My Phone (Windows Mobile) or even a single device, like Palm Synergy with the Pre.

The full report is available free here, though you do need to register to receive it. You can download immediately once you have registered.

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