GOC

Mobile e-mail is a feature that’s becoming more and more commonplace on all cell phones, even lower-end models (traditionally it was something available only on higher-end, “smartphone” models). Part of the reason for this is increasing pressure on operators to increase revenues by offering data-based services.

 

Despite the growing availability of mobile e-mail, however, by some estimates only a very small percentage of cell phones users actually take advantage of the service. That’s what Funambol, an open source company that makes mobile software, found in a March, 2007 study.

 

The company said in its report that there are now 1.6 billion e-mail accounts in the world, and 2.5 billion mobile devices, yet only 2 percent of those devices are actually used for mobile e-mail. Why should this be so?

 

To find the answer, Funambol conducted an online survey, aimed at two groups of people: those who use mobile e-mail (self-identified as “prosumers,” using e-mail for both work and personal matters), and those who do not (self-identified as consumers, using e-mail for personal matters only). Five hundred people responded to the survey.

 

Respondents to Funambol’s survey indicated that the two main inhibitors to mobile e-mail usage are functional/technical limitations, and cost. Users who switched from one mobile e-mail service to another generally did so in order to gain better interoperability with Web-based or PC-based e-mail.

 

Among those who do not currently use mobile e-mail, respondents indicated they might consider jumping on board if the service were easy to navigate and read (85 percent), easy to use (74 percent), and allows reuse of e-mail addresses from Web/PC-based accounts (72 percent).

 

The survey also found that, while mobile e-mail users (or potential users) can be divided into “prosumers” and “consumers,” a true breakdown reveals a much more complex market in which there is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” mobile e-mail solution.

 

“To accelerate mass market adoption of mobile e-mail, the industry needs to recognize the differences in these microsegments and cater to their needs with flexible offerings,” Funambol advised in its report on the survey.

 

Some mobile device manufacturers are doing a better job than others of enabling and delivering the type of services users are demanding. Accoriding to Funambol, the most popular devices for mobile e-mail are as listed below (percentages indicate number of respondents who expressed satisfaction with mobile e-mail on mobile devices from that manufacturer).

“The fact that ‘other’ was the second most popular choice reflects the broad diversity of devices owned by mobile users around the world,” Funambol noted in its report. “The percentages add up to more than 100 percent because some people listed multiple devices.”

 

Tellingly, the survey results indicated that, although certain mobile devices may be more popular than others, in general users are not very satisfied with the mobile e-mail services available to them. In fact, less than a third of respondents  (27 percent) said they are “quite satisfied.”

 

When considering switching to another mobile e-mail service, respondents indicated the following as the primary deal-maker or breaker:

When you consider that, combined, the two categories that have to do with cost (“free” and “lower cost”) make up 58.4 percent of respondents, it seems worth taking a second look at how much mobile e-mail users are willing to spend. Funambol’s survey examined this factor too, and the results are telling.

 

“Excluding those who do not want mobile e-mail, the top choice of how much people would be willing to spend monthly on mobile e-mail, including the cost of data fees, was a tie between $0 and $5 (21 percent each), followed by a tie between $3 and $10 (13 percent),” Funambol said in its report. The company added, “It appears that most non-users are much more price sensitive than existing users.”

 

It would appear, then, that if manufacturers and service providers are to motivate wider adoption of mobile e-mail use, they need to address two main factors: interoperability with existing e-mail accounts, and cost. Considering that, as Funambol puts it, many millions of people will start using mobile e-mail in the next few years, the pressure definitely is on to deliver what prosumers and consumers alike are seeking.

 

“Mobile operators who want to capitalize on this mass market opportunity would do well by providing e-mail services that support a wide range of devices, that access e-mail systems used by consumers, that simplify the user experience, and that can be delivered at low cost,” Funambol said in its report.

 

Funambol’s solution to all of these needs is the development of open source software capable of providing push e-mail and personal information management (PIM) data “on mass market mobile devices at a fraction of the cost of proprietary solutions.”

 

The company is exhibiting its open source software, built around the SyncML standard, at CTIA this week (March 27-30, 2007)—booth #1177. More specifically, Funambol is launching a new Web-based portal designed to automate over-the-air configuration of mobile devices for e-mail and PIM, and a new J2ME client for mass market mobile phones.

 

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