Microsoft today announced a new deal to license email functionality to Symbian, Microsoft’s biggest mobile competitor. The agreement will allow Symbian powered phones to work with Microsoft’s Exchange email platform. The move is seen by insiders as a way for Symbian (and Microsoft) to fend off competition from Research In Motion’s BlackBerry product line.

Symbian will make the Exchange Server ActiveSync protocol plug-in available to all Symbian OS licensees which, when coupled with a separate standard distribution agreement with Microsoft, enables the licensees, at their discretion, to implement direct synchronization capabilities with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 in their selected Symbian OS products

Symbian powered phones with the new functionality should ship in 2006.