I have been using Microsoft’s mobile SaaS play, the Microsoft My Phone service since the initial beta.

Microsoft My Phone is a software/service combo that backs up your Microsoft Windows Mobile phone to the cloud and also helps protect you phone by offering some premium features, such as a phone wipe and phone lock, in case of loss or theft of the phone. That data could then be restored to any other phone registered by the user. User login and authentication is handled by Windows Live ID, another selling point for me.

I like the features, and I exhorted all users in our inventory to use the device, both to protect the phone, and more importantly, to protect the data.

However, I had always thought of it as a lightweight for the following simple reasons:

• 200 MB storage. This is the initial, and most glaring pain point. For a company that offers users about 50 GB across all Windows Live properties, Microsoft has done a piss-poor job publicizing this fact. Worse yet, the entire amount of storage is in several silos, each inaccessible to the other, despite the fact that each of these properties requires the same login credentials!!! To crown it all, Microsoft My Phone is only given 200 MB of storage. 200 MB of storage in this age of multi-gigabyte SDHC or Micro-SD cards!!!
• Call log restore. While it restores the contact information on mobiles, My Phone does not restore call logs. This is an unforgiveable oversight.
• Total system state restore. As opposed to just restoring some features. My ideal for My Phone would be for it to be able to restore a windows Mobile/ Windows Phone to the complete state last backed up to the cloud. That, would be absolute mobile user nirvana.

Despite all these shortcomings, on March 22, 2010, Microsoft My Phone proved its worth, and made me a believer.

On that day, I traveled to Los Angeles for the 2010 HP Personal Workstation Global Media Day. After checking in at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in lovely Santa Monica, I left for a restaurant to enjoy a late dinner with a couple of friends.

At the restaurant, I noticed that I did not have my cell phone in my possession. I thought I had left it in my bungalow at the Fairmont, and didn’t worry about it.

After dinner and upon getting back to my rooms at the hotel, I found out that the phone wasn’t in the bungalow. I called it a few times, and then though that maybe I had left it in the cab we tool to the diner. I called the concierge desk and asked them to contact the cab company with a view to retrieving my cell.

The cellphone in question is the LG eXpo smartphone, and I was not worried about inadvertent entry into the phone since it has a fingerprint reader which I had activated.

I got a call back from the cab company saying that the driver was taking another fare to downtown LA, and as soon as he got there, he was going to check the cab for the mobile.

I then decided to utilize Microsoft My Phone since I had more than just Exchange information on the mobile.

Logging on to My Phone, I went to the Premium Features page, and did the following:

1. Locate Your Phone On A Map. Going straight to item #2, I decided to attempt to locate my phone on a map. The returned results placed the phone in a location within a radius containing both the hotel and the diner. I called the restaurant, asked for the manager, and asked her to help locate the phone. After a few minutes, she came back and informed me that staffers couldn’t locate it there.
2. Ring Your Phone Loudly. I decided to utilize this feature in order to see if the muted ringtone on the phone was hindering its recovery. I utilized this feature twice, and proceeded to
3. Erase Your Phone. Since the phone contained an SD card (encrypted), I didn’t want it falling into the hands of a miscreant. Just as I was ready to punch ‘Erase’, the house phone rang.

It was the concierge. My phone had rung loudly in the lobby, and a bellboy was bringing it to me.

How cool is this?

For a cost of $4.99 per incident, Microsoft My Phone Premium Features would help you locate, securely wipe, and lock your phone.

Two cool things should be apparent here: 1) this is a free service, and 2) the $4.99 per incident fee, is pretty generous since this is not a recurring amount. You only pay the money when you lose your phone!

This is a generous bone by Microsoft.

Resultantly, I am doing something totally unconventional for AbsolutelyWindows and SmallBizWindows: Microsoft My Phone is the recipient of the SmallBizWindows Business Ready Superstar Award.

This is one cool SaaS play, and I enjoyed the benefits firsthand.

Microsoft My Phone is at http://MyPhone.Microsoft.com, and the premium features, in order, are:

Ring your phone. Your phone will ring loudly for 60 seconds even if it is set to 'silent' or 'vibrate only' mode.

Locate your phone on a map. Your phone's current location will be marked on a map, which will give you a general idea where it is.

Lock your phone. Lock your phone so that it cannot be used by anyone else. You can also enter a message to display on your phone's screen to tell the finder how to contact you.

Erase your phone. Erase your phone and storage card to ensure that your data is safe. Your phone will be restored to the factory default settings.

Microsoft My Phone is now in version 1.6, and Mobility Minded’s Paul Willen has a post on the new features in this release.

Thanks to Jay Livens (About Restore, @SEPATONJay) for prompting me to write about this.