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Chapura's Outlook synchronization software PocketMirror - long familiar to Palm OS device users, and more recently Microsoft-based handheld owners, is now compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PCs and Pocket PC Phones. With version 2.0, users can transfer more information between Outlook on the desktop and Outlook Mobile on the handheld than with ActiveSync alone.

In addition, PocketMirror Professional for Windows Mobile 2.0 ($49.95), unlike Outlook Mobile or other solutions, lets users organize synchronize data on their device the same way as on the desktop—in multiple, separate groupings, and not jumbled all together, according to Chaprua. Users can also pick and choose which Outlook Contacts, Calendar and Tasks folders to synchronize with their handheld, including any public and subfolders on an Exchange Server.

"PocketMirror Professional 2.0 for Windows Mobile is the easy solution for enhanced Outlook synchronization that customers, especially Palm 700w users, have been asking for," Chapura president Keith Ellenberg informed PDAStreet.

To keep categories in tact and folder contents together - and more easily accessible - on a mobile device, Chapura says PocketMirror creates a folder-like category, denoted with an asterisk, on the handheld for each desktop folder selected. "So, when it comes to organizing Outlook data on the handheld, 'See star, think folder.' It is that easy," according to Ellenberg.

"What differentiates Chapura is that we understand the ways in which customers want to organize their information. So, we adapt the software to handle their needs. We don't force customers to adapt the way they organize data to fit the software's functionality," Ellenberg added.

Nearly all Pocket PC PDAs and Pocket PC smartphones released today, and for the foreseeable future, are built on Windows Mobile 5.0. It has proved to be quite a boon for Microsoft, as the number of devices using its platform has exploded since its introduction. The follow up - codenamed Crossbow - could find its way to phone manufacturers hands by the end of the year; but it would most likely still mean a long wait before end users see it because of carrier testing.

All in the Family
Chapura updated PocketMirror for the Palm OS to version 4.0 back in February. It has been offering synchronization software for that platform since 1996, going back to the very beginning of Palm itself, really. The company's products have been bundled with over 25 million PDAs and smartphones from a number of different manufacturers over the years. Winter’s Palm platform upgrades covered the Standard, Standard XT, Professional and Professional XT editions of the application.

As part of PocketMirror update for Windows Mobile announcement, Chapura pitched another one of its products, PocketCopy ($19.95). Should a users make the change from a Palm platform device to a Windows Mobile Pocket PC or phone, PocketCopy will transfer data from the Palm Desktop to Outlook, whereupon PocketMirror or ActiveSync can then take care of the rest; transferring the data to the new device itself.

PocketCopy solves a problem for some folks making the transition from Palm, Inc.’s aging Palm-based Treo 650, still one of the best-selling smartphones in the U.S., to its own Treo 700w, the company’s first foray into Windows Mobile, and an extremely popular smartphone in its own right.

"Chapura is taking something that is complicated-synchronizing data between two different applications and user environments-and making it a seamless experience," said Adam Moise, partner alliance manager, Developer Relations at Palm.