Although not strictly billed as a phone-to-PC sync service, My Phone will synchronize Windows Live contacts -- assuming Windows Live has been installed on the phone -- with those on the Windows Live Web site. However, My Phone will not sync contacts, e-mail messages or to-do tasks with an Exchange mail server. Phone data will be backed up to the remote servers automatically once per day, said Microsoft, although users can manually trigger a backup at any time.

My Phone is a potential competitor to Apple Inc.'s , which debuted last July but . MobileMe, however, costs $99 annually, while My Phone will be free, said Microsoft.

MobileMe offers considerably more storage space -- 20GB -- and synchronizes e-mail, contact, and tasks between not only and a PC or Mac, but also between multiple computers.