Thursday, June 12, 2008

Should MobileMe support SyncML?

As I understand it, SyncML isn't really the most modern of calendar-sharing protocols. CalDAV is much better. Yet, Mass Asay agrees with Fabrizio Capobianco that it's a shame that the new Apple MobileMe doesn't support SyncML. I guess I'm really left wondering what opportunity was lost when Apple chose to support CalDAV and didn't support SyncML. Couldn't SyncML be added to the iPhone via a third-party extension? Sure, making it a plug-in is never as good as having it baked in, but how big a deal is this? Anyone?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Synthesis is working on this.

www.synthesis.ch

Adam said...

Synthesis is already working on this.

http://www.synthesis.ch

Anonymous said...

I think yes, absolutely, MobileMe should support SyncML. Having a more accessible platform raises the value proposition for the platform's customers. It's not that hard to understand.

Supporting SyncML means that folks with nearly any modern handset can sync with MobileMe. Palm and WindowsMobile customers can, too (with appropriate add-ons).

Maddeningly, Mac OS X's SyncServices uses SyncML internally, but they don't have a URL source exposed in the interface. I've made suggestions and filed feature requests, so far to no avail.

Lars Gunther (itpastorn) said...

Adding SyncML would have been so easy for Apple. And beneficial for mixed environments.

I guess Appple really does not care about interoperability and openess. If so, where are the apis?

http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/06/10/apple%E2%80%99s-mobileme-misses-the-mark/

Fabrizio Capobianco said...

Hello,
Funambol has an open source SyncML client for the iPhone since last year and it will be available through the App Store as soon as Apple opens it.

fabrizio

Anonymous said...

Yes,Synthesis is working on this.
Absolutely, MobileMe should support SyncML.
Your info was helpful. Thanks!
http://anujdiscovery.tripod.com/