Consumer mobile email going mainstream

As more and more people rely more and more on their mobile handsets, there is increasing evidence that consumer mobile email is becoming mainstream. If nothing else, the fact that RIM - the manufacturer whose Blackberry handsets have become synonymous with mobile email for business - has begun developing handsets specifically for the consumer market. Why? you ask. The answer: the market is "virtually untapped".

But not only RIM has release encouraging reports. Nokia has also seen great success with its Ovi product - and now has over 250,000 subscribers in just a few months.

While this news is great for the industry, the solutions mentioned above are restricted to either Blackberry or Nokia hansets. So, what do you do if you don't have either of these brands (or want something better) - try Momail. Not only is the service handset agnostic, but our optimization technology also helps to greatly minimize your data costs.

The Tech President

Earlier this week, I attended a seminar sponsored by Democrats Abroad in Stockholm which provided a helpful overview both of how President Obama leveraged technology to win the election as well as how he will use it during his presidency.

In addition to using the traditional community meetings, handshakes and phone calls, Obamba and his team also reached out to the younger voters via Facebook, YouTube, his campaign site, Change.gov, and similar. Needless to say, the effort was effective.

During the Obama administration, he has pledged to open up electronic communication channels via the White House site, as well as through blogs, etc.

Of particular note, Obama will be the first US President to use email - and most notably email on a Blackberry. His dependence and efforts to keep his Blackberry have been well documented.

The question on our minds is: How much will Obama's reliance on his Blackberry increase interest in mobile email generally... and how much of that interest will expand into the consumer space? One would expect quite a bit.

RIM sees increase in consumer mobile email

RIM, whose Blackberry handsets have become synonymous with mobile email in the enterprise field, is currently experiencing a strong uptake of their products in the consumer space. Per a recent presentation by Martin Thyssen at the Kista Mobile Showcase, RIM's Q2 2008 numbers showed that 40% of their subscribers are now non-enterprise, and more than 60% of their new subscribers are private / non-enterprise.

Needless to say, new handset models from Blackberry as well as the Apple iPhone, Samsung Omnia, and Nokia's Ovi project among others are helping to raise awareness of the ease of access consumer email accounts on mobiles. Soon email with be as easily accessible on mobiles as it is on the web.

Interest in consumer mobile email continues to grow

Recent news in the mobile industry raises expectations that email access for consumers on their mobile handsets will soon be as commonplace as webmail. For example:

- Nokia recently not only completed its acquistion of Oz, a consumer focused messaging platform, but also announced the release of a number of new handsets focused on the lower-end market, and all including email from its Ovi platform.

- Blackberry continues its push into the consumer handset market with the Pearl, the flip-Pearl, and its iPhone competitor, the Storm.

- In another platform play, it appears iSkoot will also be developing a messaging platform for AT&T, which will include Skype, email, instant messenger, and social networking functionality for lower-end phones.

As Mary Meeker mentioned at the recent Web 2.0 Summit, these developments continue to prove that mobile is increasingly turning into a Web-centric model, ie, more and more of what consumers know from the Web will become easier to use and more widely available on mobile handsets.

Momail on Blackberry's?

Yes, it's true!

Though Momail is focused on the consumer market, we have a number of Blackberry customers who are interested in using our service. Therefore, below is a brief tutorial:

1. Register for Momail at www.momail.xx (where xx is your country domain).

2. Then go to the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) - via web or WAP

3. Choose "add email account"

4. Enter your Momail username and password

... and you are ready to go!

Look forward to hearing your feedback. If questions, please contact us.

(also more information about setting up webmail on your Blackberry generally can also be found on the Crackberry site)

Operators recognizing need for optimized data

Per this entry on Fierce Mobile IT, iPhone data traffic is clogging AT&T's data pipes, as the "iPhone lacks the data compression technology found in RIM's BlackBerry devices".... and in Momail's service. Though iPhone users are using the iPhone for more than email, using Momail for email on these devices (and over 1000 other models of course!) can help operators save space and therefore money... always a good thing.

As Momail's technology optimizes email by up to 99% and works on consumer handsets - the service saves consumers money as well... even better!