Microsoft is planning to support push for Hotmail on a wide range of mobile devices including the iPhone, Windows Phone devices and Android. It?s due for release on Monday.

Push support will be using the exchange active sync technology, which is currently available on nearly 300 million phones. Push e-mail allows synchronisation of e-mail between a device and the web. Calendars and contacts can also be synchronised. Microsoft?s plans were originally revealed in April this year.

Microsoft revealed the launch date earlier this week in an interview with CNET News.com. Dharmesh Mehta gave Monday the 30th of August as the launch date.

When it comes to accessing Hotmail, Microsoft have traditionally taken the closed door approach compared to it?s rivals. Google already offers Exchange ActiveSync for Gmail, so it looks like Microsoft is aiming to match Google?s Gmail service and then some. Hotmail?s new features include a single contact list, showing all online contacts including those on social networking services. Active Views has also been introduced to integrate the content and functionality of websites directly into e-mails received by users. Which means you can view content from websites from within an email rather than having to open a browser.

The support foe active sync has been slowly introduced by Microsoft over the past month. In a message to those trying to join the service, Microsoft explained: "To get Hotmail on-the-go, you recently tried to set up a service called ActiveSync from your mobile device. We are really glad that you’re interested, but we had so many sign-ups that we had to temporarily stop accepting new ones."

When the service goes live on Monday, you will be able to select the Exchange option on your mobile and point to m.hotmail.com.