Microsoft goes after cloud with MobiComp buy

Microsoft has added another firm to its mobile arsenal, announcing this week that it’s buying MobiComp, a Portuguese mobile content sharing and back up company. There’s no word on the terms or the price of the acquisition, but Microsoft did say the company will now fit into Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business.

Microsoft could well be planning some sort of MobileMe service – saying that it seems MobiComp’s mobile data protection and sharing services fitting in with Windows Mobile and Live for “experiences that span work and play across mobile phones, the web and PCs.” Microsoft also mentions ‘the cloud’ in its press release – it looks like with this acquisition it’s aiming to go after the same hosted storage/applications territory that Apple and Google are hoping to conquer. Storing contacts and all your other mobile data off in the cloud makes a lot of sense for any phone user with data they couldn’t handle losing – only now there’s the thorny question of having to work out which internet or mobile giant you fancy entrusting it to.