Convergence initial thoughts: Mobile Express for 4.0 coming soon

Today was the Partner day at Convergence 2008, and I wanted to quickly share some Microsoft CRM news. Brad Wilson and Christian Pedersen from the CRM team made the following announcements:

• Microsoft will release an updated version of Microsoft CRM Mobile Express that will be compatible with the 4.0 version. Timing of the release is "very soon".
• Microsoft will release a BizTalk Adapter for CRM 4.0.
• The next release of Microsoft CRM is planned for the second half of calendar 2009. They said we should expect to see new major releases approximately once every two years.
• Microsoft CRM Live will release updates approximately every six months:
  • R1 - Open access coming soon
  • R2 - Online marketing / search word integration
  • R3 - Multiple language support
  • R4 - Timed with the next major release of Microsoft CRM
• All Convergence attendees will get a free 30 day trial of CRM Live.
• Microsoft partners will get a free 12 month subscription to CRM Live for internal use/demos/etc.

That's about all of the CRM news for today, and I'll try to post as more news as we get it this week.