Vodafone has announced availability of an Exchange 2003 enabled mobile email service for selected devices running Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0.

The first such service in the Australian market, the Vodafone offering will compete with it’s own BlackBerry services. Initially available on a range of i-mate smartphones and HPs iPAQ 6965, the service will be expanded later to include more handsets.

The first phones to run the service will be the i-mate JASJAR, SP5 and the i-mate KJam devices. Next month Vodafone will add the i-mate JAMin and bring the HP iPAQ 6965 into the range.

Vodafone also hinted at another HP smartphone saying a second HP device to be added to the service list “is still under wraps”. Vodafone will also add other handsets to the mix later in the year.

The Direct Push email service will incorporate email and messaging and will allow for the synchronisation of other Outlook features such as Tasks.

The service requires Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server running Service Pack 2 and will also support Microsoft Office attachments such as (mobile) Word and Excel files.

Mark Iles, general manager Business Markets at Vodafone Australia, adds: “Vodafone and Microsoft are the global leaders in our respective fields and our combined solution delivers the very best of both worlds to Australian business customers. Partnering takes mobile email and mobile computing into a new era, with the power to change the way our customers do business.”

All Windows Mobile Email from Vodafone devices feature either tri-band or quad-band capabilities,

allowing them to be used at major business travel destination around the world.

The service will be sold as a “Bolt-on” to Vodafone’s existing Business Caps plans Lite subscribers will pay $29.95 per month for 500 emails or $49.95 for 1500 emails for the Heavy plan. Both plans charge 0.2 cents per kb for additional usage.