News

Encrypted E-mail App Coming to Windows Phones

• By Chris Paoli
• February 28, 2012

Microsoft, partnered with with secured and managed mobile enterprise app company Good Technology, will bring encrypted e-mail services to the Windows Phone platform.

According to yesterday's joint announcement, Good Technology, "will provide FIPS-certified 192 bit AES encryption for end-to-end mobile messaging for the Windows Phone platform to enable secured accessing of corporate data using Good for Enterprise," said the two companies in a release.

Scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2012, the e-mail encryption service will arrive for those running the latest version of Windows Phone's OS (previously called "Mango") as an app in the Microsoft Marketplace.  

Good Technology already offers similar encryption services for Android devices, the iPad and iPhones.

This partnership is poised to capture some of the enterprise crowd, especially those businesses that have integrated multiple devices and platforms into its network.

"The Windows Phone platform provides mobile users with a terrific new solution that combines a state of the art user interface and ease of use," said Susan Vinci-Lucero, senior vice president of marketing at Good Technology. "As our December BYOD report and 2011 Q4 Data Report indicate, enterprise customers are rapidly embracing the 'Bring Your Own Device' model across all industries, and we are delighted to work with Microsoft to help accelerate Windows Phone adoption in the enterprise."

And with the partnership to bring encrypted e-mail, this should help to bring the enterprise crowd, which, Microsoft insider Mary Jo Foley, said has been largely ignored in favor of the consumer market with its smartphone offering.

"I'd think it's high time for Microsoft to work on recapturing the corporate Windows Mobile users it has lost -- plus other brand-new business users -- if it hopes to grow its Windows Phone base in a substantial way," said Foley in a blog post.