It was a little curious earlier this year when the electronics retailing powerhouse Best Buy took a stake in Dashwire.

But now we know why Best Buy was interested in the Seattle upstart. Today, Best Buy Mobile unveiled a new Web service called mIQ that automatically syncs contacts, call history, photos, text messages and other mobile phone activities in the cloud.

The service, which is free and launching October 12, is powered by Dashwire. And it is especially helpful for those who are concerned about losing valuable data if a mobile phone is stolen, misplaced or damaged. Still, as InformationWeek notes, it is a little strange to see Best Buy jump into the mobile backup business since other players such as Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Google and the wireless carriers themselves offer similar products.

But many of those services charge a monthly fee, so Best Buy's price point of free may be attractive to cost conscious consumers. As part of the offering, mIQ will be free for up to 1 GB of storage.

The mIQ service is most similar to Apple's Mobile Me offering, which comes with 20 GB of storage and costs $99 annually.

Dashwire CEO Ford Davidson told TechFlash that Apple's success with Mobile Me was actually creating new opportunities since his company's offering only works with Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones.

"The good news for us is that Apple -- with its iPhone, iTunes and MobileMe -- is putting pressure on mobile operators and device makers to come up with their own services -- and we have a big opportunity to help them with services for all other open mobile phones," said Davidson.

Given that, it will be interesting to watch how the carriers react to a retailer such as Best Buy jumping into the mobile Web services business. After all, that's an arena where the carriers are hoping to make more money.

But Dashwire at least has some top minds advising it. Last month, the company scored a $1.1 million round of funding from Trilogy Equity Partnership, the venture capital arm of wireless pioneer John Stanton.

And Best Buy appears to be excited about the new offering.

"Best Buy Mobile is about more than phones and accessories – it’s about complete, end-to-end mobile solutions that enable users to discover and get the most out of their mobile experiences, regardless of what phone they use or what network it runs on,” said Best Buy Mobile VP of Marketing Scott Moore said in a release. “Connected services like mIQ are a key component that allows Best Buy Mobile to attain that goal and deliver against its customer promise of being there through the life of the phone.”