Calling it "Winter cleaning," Google has announced that from January 30, 2013, users of Google Mail, Calendar, and Contacts will no longer receive Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) support on their accounts.

EAS provides push mail and synchronization of contacts and calendars to a number of mobile platforms, including iOS, Symbian, and Windows Phone. It's also one of the protocols that Windows 8's Metro Mail app uses, as does Outlook 2013.

Currently, users of Google's services can enable EAS support to use their Google accounts with suitable devices. After the cut off, existing users will continue to be able to use EAS with their devices, but those users won't be able to add new devices. All future devices will have to use IMAP for their mail, CalDAV for calendar sync, and CardDAV for contact sync. Android and iOS users can use these protocols, but many others will be left high and dry. Push mail, in particular, could be left behind, as many platforms (including iOS) don't support the IMAP IDLE push mail feature.

Google isn't getting rid of Exchange ActiveSync entirely. Paying customers of Google Apps for Business, Education, and Government will continue to be able to use EAS even after the cut-off. This is of particular importance due to the features that EAS supports that IMAP, CalDAV, and CardDAV don't: EAS is used for enforcing device policies such as the use of encryption and unlock passwords. It can also be used to remotely lock and wipe devices.

In addition to disabling EAS, Google also announced that it was turning off a few other features, such as the ability to create appointments using text messages, and its API for issue tracking for projects hosted on Google Code. Unlike EAS support, which will live on for grandfathered users and paying customers, these other APIs are being turned off entirely.

In its blog post, Google claims that turning off these features is a "difficult decision" but that it's necessary to "focus on creating beautiful, useful products that improve millions of people’s lives every day." It's not immediately clear how retaining EAS support but making it a paid feature improves this focus—after all, the company will still have to maintain the facility for existing devices and paying customers.

This latest announcement comes a week after Google's news from last week that it was ending the zero-cost version of Google Apps for Business, forcing all new customers to pay at least $50/year. In making EAS a paid feature, Google is increasing the desirability of these paid accounts, especially for organizations that use a mix of mobile platforms.