Windows Phone Live Will Sync Content and Help With Lost or Stolen Phone

Microsoft senior vice president of Mobile Communications Andy Lees today showed off Windows Phone Live, a cloud service that will go along with the new Windows Phone 7 coming later this year from Microsoft and hardware partners like HTC. The service is reported to be able to not only sync your content but help out if you have lost your Windows Phone or had it stolen, this according to the Windows Phone Blog.

…the new Windows Phone Live companion site that gives people a central place to see pictures they’ve published, view their Windows Live calendar and contacts, exchange OneNote files and access other information shared between the phone and the Web. (Aaron Woodman, Windows Phone Blog)

The service will interface with Windows Live SkyDrive, the MS cloud storage service that offers users 25 GB of data storage online for syncing via Windows Live Sync. This means that all your pictures, documents, notes, contacts and email will be synced to the cloud service for you, making backup much easier. It will also offer an easy way to get content from your phone to your computer, via SkyDrive.

The other touted feature of the service is Find My Phone. It will find the  phone for you on a map, let you call the phone, lock it and even erase it remotely. If you lose your phone, you can log onto the site and find it. The location will be displayed on a map so you can determine where you lost it and possibly track if it is moving meaning someone found it. If you are afraid that it has been compromised you could  call it to see who answers and potentially arrange to pick it up. Jus because the finder is honest enough to return it doesn’t mean he or she won’t pilfer through your data. So you can lock the phone remotely. And if, in a worst case scenario, you lose it or believe it was stolen with little hope return, you could remotely wipe the phone of all data so at least you won’t lose sensitive information to a thief or dishonest  finder.

These are features previously available in other smart phone services like MobileMe for the iPhone. Also RIM announced a beta test of a similar service recently for their Blackberry phones. The difference between the Windows  Phone Live service and Apple’s MobileMe is price. MS will not be charging for their sync and security services while Apple charges $99 per year. RIM’s service will also be free.

None of this matters until Windows Phone 7 devices are released. According to the Windows Phone Blog, they should be coming soon. Woodman said, Windows Phone 7 will be available regionally this holiday season and beyond. I’m happy to say that Windows Phone 7 will be well represented in countries around the world this holiday.”

With promotional materials for Windows Phone 7 reportedly showing up in AT&T stores this could be sooner rather than later.