Speculation continues to mount about Microsoft elbowing itself further into the smartphone

Speculation continues to mount about Microsoft elbowing itself further into the smartphone market. The company accidentally launched a beta-site version of MyPhone, as Cnet reports here. The service, expected to be announced later this month at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, will allow users of Windows Mobile to back up their phone data, sync contacts, store files, and the like. In this way, though WiMo is used by a comparably small number of carriers (Palm included), it’ll be offering the same sort of Web-based “cloud computing” services that Google and, to a lesser extent, Apple are offering for competing platforms. But for those who’ve ever struggled with managing Outlook contacts–or, worse, tried to export and save email into different formats–the idea of surrendering one’s phone contacts to Steve Ballmer may not be that attractive. Because once he’s got your numbers, just try getting them back.