Nov/Dec 2005

"Push" mobile email services have been given a further boost by the announcement of wide-ranging support from Vodafone, Britain's biggest mobile service supplier.

"Push email" describes the kind of service where emails are sent automatically to mobile users, rather than having to be called up.

Vodafone already offers various mobile email services, including its own Vodafone Mobile Connect service, and it supports the BlackBerry Internet Solution and BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Now it is adding three forms of push support, of which the first to emerge is its Vodafone Business Email service, provided by Visto. This is being offered in a two versions, of which the simpler is for small businesses and individuals, and simply relays emails to mobile phones in real time. A more sophisticated version is hosted on an enterprise server, and supports both Symbian and Windows Mobile phones.

 

Vodafone's BlackBerry Connect offering allows existing enterprise and small business customers to use BlackBerry devices working via the BlackBerry Enterprise Server to access emails and use various personal management features, as well as viewing attachments.

Finally Vodafone is offering a full Windows Mobile push service using ActiveSync for companies that use Microsoft Exchange 2003. With Microsoft Windows Mobile smartphones they can provide users with access to Microsoft applications such as Outlook and (with a PDA) Word Mobile, PowerPoint and so on.