Hankerin' for some bona fide push email on your VZW handset, are you? If this is indeed the case, look no further than RemoSync, the latest Get It Now application that enables a handful of the carrier's handsets to get their Exchange-hosted email pushed directly to them. More specifically, those who purchase the app will be able to read, compose, reply, delete, forward, etc. emails, download Outlook contacts and view those immensely annoying calendar events. The pricing structure is quite curious, though. First off, it'll cost you $9.99 per month, and while a data plan isn't required per se, those without one will be charged $1.99 per megabyte (or "airtime") when using RemoSync. For a list of compatible mobiles, tap the read link and give that scroll wheel a few turns.

[Via PhoneScoop]

Nary a week after JetBlue expanded its in-flight internet services on BetaBlue comes news that the airline's LiveTV unit will be picking up Verizon's Airfone network. As you can glean, the purchase is being made in order to further "develop in-flight email and internet services," and while no purchase price was disclosed by either outfit, we are told that LiveTV will receive "100 air-to-ground US communications towers and Airfone's corporate and government aviation clients on January 1st." That's nice and all, but can't we get something out of this sooner?

Word on the street (or via super-secret emails) is that Palm is about to begin beta testing on a fancy new device. Apparently, an email went out to select individuals calling for Sprint customers who will use Bluetooth devices and have access to WiFi. The email further requests that potential testers be "seasoned business professionals" who "commute and spend a ton of time working on email and on the phone." From the sounds of things, the company is gearing up to road test its heavily rumored, WiFi-equipped Treo 800w, a Windows Mobile device likely sporting 6.1. If you don't know what we're talking about, it's that mildly dated looking device from Gates' CES keynote that we've also seen in leaks recently. Nice going on the new spec and inclusion of WiFi (at long last) -- now how about some new form factors?

Frustrated with mobile Gmail eating up all your kilobytes? If so, we have some good news for you as Google has upgraded the app. Available now, the software has been streamlined to consume half as much data as before, reducing the amount of time needed to send and receive emails as well as accessing labels. Other improvements include better search and desktop synchronization -- so all told, we'd say it's a worthy download if you're already using version one.

[Via All About Symbian]

Symbian and Windows Mobile might be sworn enemies, but to play ball in the corporate space, Nokia has little option but to support the 800-pound email gorilla that is Exchange. To that end, Espoo has loosed version 2 of its Mail for Exchange client, tightening integration with Microsoft's Exchange Server 2007 (while still supporting 2003) and enabling full attachment handling and meeting management directly from Nokia's Eseries devices. Who'da thunk they'd be rocking ActiveSync from their E62? Get it now, free of charge, for the entire Eseries line along with the N73, N76, and N95.

Remember those crazy sons of guns at patent holding firm NTP that ended up working RIM for a shade over $612 million? They're back at it, throwing lawsuits at AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon -- that's three of the States' four national carriers, in case you're keeping count -- for alleged infringements of eight patents involving mobile email. The firm seems to be something of a one-trick pony seeing how mobile email was the issue at hand with RIM and later with Palm; for a company that does nothing but sue other companies, two-thirds of a billion dollars seems like a plenty healthy bank account, but heck, what do we know? At this point, we're assuming that once they're done suing every company that's ever offered, used, or mentioned "mobile" and "email" in the same sentence, we'll finally be able to put this issue to rest -- but until that day comes, watch your back, folks, because NTP's back on the prowl.

Update: Silly us for thinking NTP wouldn't just go ahead and make it a nice, round four! T-Mobile's been caught up in the suit, too, with its Sidekick services specifically called out (among others) for infringement of NTP's email patents.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Piggybacking on the announcement of the far more exciting TyTN II earlier this week, HTC has released details of its upcoming HTCmail hosted mail service designed for use with its devices in combination with Outlook 2007. Using Microsoft Exchange on its back end, HTCmail allows users to aggregate up to five email accounts into a single collective inbox that stays synced with your handset along with your calendar, contacts, and other PIM miscellany. Pricing hasn't been announced just yet, but subscription packages will be available in a variety of durations and include 2GB (that's all?) of storage when it goes live in the UK and France next month.

[Via Slashphone]

Trust us, the irony of someone needing to sync an Apple device through Windows that's running on a Mac is glaringly obvious, but hey, some folks just can't escape Outlook no matter how hard they try. Nevertheless, the new Parallels Desktop beta (which is available now) does add iPhone support in Windows XP and Vista along with a newly fortified Image Tool / Explorer and coherence windows that now work with Expose. Of course, you should recognize that this stuff is indeed still in beta, but if you're the daring (or overly trusting) type, feel free to hit the read link and get your download on.

[Via AppleInsider]

When RIM settled out of court with NTP over wireless email patent infringements, we wondered if more than a handful of others had thought of the idea as well. One such individual, Nicholas Fodor, really doesn't want $612 million like NTP was granted, but instead wants his products to do the talking. Fodor's self-proclaimed expertise in his years of working with email systems is enough to "make it possible to view and respond to messages sent to almost any e-mail account on a cellphone or other mobile device." While that's not exactly a revolutionary concept these days, Fodor's "Freedom Mail" will be platform and device-agnostic (no BES here) and will be supported by small advertisements appended to messages. The service will be supported on any cellphone that has Internet access. With RIM's recent outage causing quite a stink, maybe Fodor will get a fan base going here.

[Via techdirt]

As we noted last night, BlackBerry email is experiencing a service interruption of massive proportions, with the entire Western hemisphere unable to do the push email thing since 8PM EST on Tuesday. Things were supposed to be patched up by midnight last night, but apparently RIM is still trying to reset the system, and expects the problem to last into the morning. Even once the system is good to go -- and we are starting to here reports of some people getting their email -- it'll still take a while for RIM to process through the backlog of email, and the word is they'll be taking it slow as to not esplode the system again, so for all you CrackBerry addicts out there: you might be in for a wait, our thoughts are with you and your idle thumbs.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: BBC is now reporting that RIM has "most" of its North American network back, and that it's "closely monitoring systems in order to maintain normal service levels." (What were they doing before, playing ping pong?) As mentioned before, some users will experience delays as RIM clears the backlog of unsent emails.

Read - CNNMoney.com
Read - PINStack forums

Users of Windows Mobile 5 have been enjoying Direct Push for some time via AKU2 (from the manufacturers that have decided to offer it, anyway) -- but getting that always-fascinating corporate email beamed straight on down to your Palm OS Garnet OS device, on the other hand... well, that's novel concept, indeed. Palm has announced that an update for its 680 and 700p handhelds will be made available Monday to add automatic synchronization of email, contacts, and calendar with the Exchange Server of your choice. Cobalt, it ain't, but at this point we'll take what we can get.

[Via Phone Scoop]

It looks like Helio isn't the only game in town touting a MySpace partnership anymore, as Cingular has not only joined the ranks (well, solidified the friendship, anyway), but upped the ante in the process. While we learned about MySpace's integration with Helio (and the subsequent perks for members) awhile back, Cingular's deal promises a "more expansive" offering. So expansive, in fact, that users will be charged an extra $2.99 per month to upload photos taken on their handsets to their profile, read / respond to MySpace emails, update their blog entries, and search / view friend profiles on their handsets. Apparently, these not-so-outrageous niceties are costing users due to the "small Java application" that they can download, which presumably makes accessing these luxuries an easy and painless process. About "30 cellphone models" will initially be supported, with another 20 or so to follow suit, and while online videos aren't currently supported, that functionality should be launched "sometime in 2007."

Though it should hardly come as a shock to readers familiar with our Keepin' it real fake series, RIM might be surprised to find a bounty of BlackBerry-alikes as they enter the mainland Chinese market, undercutting a source of otherwise significant new revenue as millions of new folks discover the addictive devices for the first time. Though unlicensed knockoff manufacturers typically don't fly in the US or Western Europe, Reuters points out that it can cost as little as $125K to bring one online in China -- a compelling proposition in one of the world's hottest mobile markets. What's more, they're finding that some Chinese are buying BlackBerrys strictly for their, uh, sound quality and good looks (can ya believe it?) but are bypassing China Mobile's email hookup entirely, citing it as overpriced. Could the BlackBerry end up a boon for customers in the world's most populous country, yet a bust for RIM?

[Thanks, David]

Pantech has just released a new handset for the security-conscious Taiwanese citizen who also wants some pretty capable multimedia features in his/her cellphone. To keep sensitive data out of the wrong hands, the tri-band PG-6200 features a fingerprint scanner rather curiously placed right above the smudge-prone two megapixel camera lens, along with a music player that handles MP3 and AAC files from either the 20MB internal memory or a microSD card. Other nice touches include Bluetooth (no word on A2DP compatibility, though) and JAVA 2.0 so you can get your Opera Mini-on, along with the obligatory email, SMS, and MMS functionality.

[Via textually]

As if there weren't already practically more push email options than capable phones out there, Alltel ("America's Largest Wireless Network," according to their own dubious claims) is throwing their very own "Office Sync" solution into the ring. The software runs on Palm and Windows Mobile devices, and costs $40 a month, which includes unlimited data. Based on the SEVEN push email platform, Office Sync has both a Personal Edition and Enterprise Server Edition, which cost the same, but offer different functionality and integration.

[Via MobileMag]