Symbian's decision to license Microsoft's Exchange Server ActiveSync technology, announced yesterday, has come under fire from industry experts for being too limited.

The deal will only allow mobile synchronisation with Exchange Server 2003, cutting out a vast user base on earlier versions of Exchange, warned Ovum senior analyst Tony Cripps.

Cripps also pointed out that, as the system is not push-enabled, it does not match the much-desired 'push' email functionality delivered by RIM's BlackBerry.

The analyst explained that, while the move is good start for providing an enterprise base of Symbian-based mobile devices, it is nevertheless a limited one.

"Simply licensing Exchange Server ActiveSync will not suddenly turn enterprises on to Symbian, which continues to fly under the technology radar of most chief information officers, although some may have crept in by the back door as part of a business handset upgrade programme or as personal phones," he said.

Ovum's research warned that Symbian faces being blocked out of the enterprise because, for most IT buyers and business people today, BlackBerry remains the de facto means of accessing email on the move.

But Symbian's future prospects are a little better as Windows Mobile devices will provide more obvious synergies with Microsoft server products "whether real or imagined".

Some 25 million Symbian-powered handsets have already been sold, around 14 million of them in 2004. But few will have made it into an enterprise as a result of a deliberate IT-led policy, according to Cripps.

"Very few buyers, and even fewer CIOs, have yet gone out of their way to buy a Symbian handset. Of course, some of the handsets they bought do - coincidentally - run the software. But these remain largely outside the realm of corporate IT," he said.

"And how many of these infiltrators will, in any case, have seen action as productivity enhancers for business users? Very few, in all likelihood.

"Of course, Symbian says that's the point of its agreement with Microsoft; that the deal will add enterprise credibility to the platform.

"But the fact remains that Symbian has little visibility in any of its constituent user bases, whether business or consumer."

However, Cripps acknowledged that bundling Exchange connectivity with Symbian, at no additional cost to licensees, will clearly not harm the platform's chances of gaining traction in the enterprise.

"But a more concerted educational effort, targeting ISVs, systems integrators and end-user organisations, will have a greater effect than integrating an invisible protocol," he concluded.