Email on the move
| Email on the move | |
27 July 2006
In this spirit then, email on the move is about to go huge. For the number of ‘moby-lised’ email accounts is about to explode over the next three years as inboxes on handsets become the norm. According to respected market analysts, Datamonitor, business email will increasingly be flowing to mobile phones rather than desktop machines or laptops. For at a time when remote working is growing, mobile phone operators are fighting an intense if ill-fated battle for differentiation. But since customers are faced with so much vanilla in terms of price and features, the mobile operators are now attempting to hold onto their customer base with mobile email. It is currently thought that some 260 million enterprise email accounts can potentially be converted to walkabout; a fact not lost on mobile phone companies. From the customer’s perspective, mobile email is the next logical step. Technology-wise, ‘push’ email is relatively mature and therefore ripe for mobile operators to roll out mobile email solutions in order to retain business customers. Currently, it is thought that there are two main areas where enterprise-class mobile email will expand: an expansion in the scope of deployment in enterprises presently using the technology, i.e. giving more staff mobile email access, and an overall rise in the uptake of mobile email. As usual, what happens in larger enterprises percolates down to smaller companies in time when the price point reaches a level where the benefits outweigh the costs. Research last year showed that around 50 per cent of European enterprises have already bought into the technology and deployed mobile email. Significant numbers also indicated they planned to adopt mobile email and mobile personal information management in the next 12 months. If these industry forecasts prove correct, it will soon be impossible to get out of the office. It will be in your pocket instead. | |