Not that long ago mobile email was a clunky affair involving small emails being copied – or “popped” – to laptops and mobile phones, sometimes requiring a separate email address. The alternative was to use the Internet to connect to a web email service like Hotmail or an in-house email server via a secure ‘virtual private network’ or VPN connection. Today however, with the advent of faster wireless services over cellular and WiFi technologies; light, attractive handheld devices and phones with emailfriendly software are the preferred way to receive mobile email for many – after all it’s tough fitting a laptop in a pocket or firing one up when all you want to do is access one email.

One of the most popular handheld mobile email devices to date is the Blackberry. Following its development and commercial release in 1999, the Blackberry became so popular that its owners began to be called “crack-berries”, a tongue-in-cheek term used to describe those who can’t resist responding to the Blackberry’s ‘beep’ which signifies a new email. The Blackberry became popular with large companies and government departments because it could be centrally managed from a server, email was ‘pushed’ to the device meaning no effort on the part of users, and it was possible to lock down certain features and develop security policies around others.

Today, the Blackberry still reigns supreme for large organisations needing a fast, robust mobile email service, and devices range in price from the $699 Blackberry 7290 to the $1199 Blackberry 8707, all of which are now also 3G mobile phones.

Mounting a recent challenge though, are light attractive mobile devices running the Microsoft Windows 5.0 operating system. These devices, from makers like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and particularly i-mate and Palm, are tipped to break the dominance of the Blackberry in the corporate mobile email market and are already popping up en masse among small business users and travelling executives.

Why? First, the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system closely resembles the Windows desktop operating system and offers mini versions of Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel and Outlook to boot. This makes it significantly easier for businesses to train staff on how to use the device to access email and other mobile applications. Window Mobile devices also increasingly have the ‘wow’ factor and are winning new users on good looks and form factor.

However, the biggest attraction is that the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system ‘talks’ directly with Microsoft Exchange Server, the software which manages and directs email through many organisations. Exchange Server can be run in-house by a business over its network or made available by a host, either way businesses can use it to achieve ‘full’ mobile email synchronisation, whereby email is not copied to mobile devices though ‘popping’ but held on the server and centrally accessed by mobile and desktop devices alike.

Presently, existing investments in the Blackberry platform and the price of Windows Mobile 5.0 devices, which can be $400 or more than a standard mobile phone, are the main barriers to widespread adoption of Windows Mobile devices. For example, the rather gorgeous i-mate Smartflip phone running Windows Mobile costs $999 compared with Vodafone’s $499 Nokia 6234 and Telecom’s $399 Nokia 6165 (both a favourite with large New Zealand organisations.) Vodafone hopes to soon change this price barrier by launching its own Windows Mobile smart phone for $599 (the Vodafone 1210).

How to get mobile email
Businesses that have their own mobile email server software (whether it is Microsoft Exchange Server or products like Active Sync which support standard mobile phone email clients) should ideally seek expert help to set up the software so that it delivers the mobile email solution they want and don’t want, say specialists. For example, if a worker is out of the office and wants to download an email with an eight megabyte attachment to a mobile device, if the email server software has been set up to prevent attachments of that size being sent to mobile devices, the attachment won’t be able to be accessed.

Andrew Charlesworth, marketing manager for Telecom Mobile reseller Orb Communications, says Orb regularly sets up mobile devices to work with in-house Exchange Server systems and can set up connection from the mobile device through a network firewall and to an email server. “Importantly, we ensure the business is running the right [email] software on the server for what they want to achieve,” says Charlesworth.

Dion Knill, manager business terminals for Vodafone, says Vodafone sets up in-house email software to support customers running Lotus Domino, Blackberry Enterprise Server or Microsoft Exchange Server software and who want mobile email. He says the key benefit of Blackberry in an enterprise environment is that the device is mature and the associated software tools mean Blackberry services – and restrictions – can be ‘pushed’ to a large number of users with relative ease. Similarly, companies running the latest version of Microsoft Exchange Server with compatible devices on Windows Mobile 5.0 can also access fully synchronised email, calendar and contacts software, as well as mini-Office applications, says Knill. He says for organisations without compatible email server software to support Windows or Blackberry mobile devices, Vodafone suggests middleware software such as Intellisync, which offers full wireless synchronisation capabilities for standard mobile phones that are email capable.

Hosted mobile email
Many small and even medium sized businesses still rely on an ISP or an email host to manage and deliver business email and Vodafone, Xtra and most ISPs still offer customers an ‘old fashioned’ ‘POP’ mobile email service which copies email to mobile devices rather than synchronises it in real time. While this is less efficient, it’s still necessary as many standard mobile phones include an email client which only supports email being delivered in the traditional way. However, for businesses that would prefer fully synchronised email and that don’t have their own email server software, the answer is to use an online email host.

“This seems to be quickest and most cost effective way of receiving [synchronised] email on mobile devices,” says Knill.

An ISP or email host with the right software can host all the email of a business client. Not only can the business then see all their email folders and send and receive email via the web site of the ISP or host (that is, from anywhere with Internet access) but synchronised email can be accessed by desktops, laptops and other mobile devices in real time. Because the email is not copied to the mobile device, duplicated email and forgotten replies are avoided. Instead, inboxes and outboxes and folders all appear on the designated devices as they appear on the host’s online server. Email opened from a mobile device will therefore appear as opened in the inbox of desktop email software, and email deleted from the desktop will be simultaneously deleted from the mobile device.

Here’s a simple example: I own a Palm Treo smart phone running Windows Mobile 5.0. In addition to a mobile voice plan, I pay Vodafone $49 per month for up to a gigabyte of mobile data which I use to surf the net, send TXT and PXT messages and send or respond to business emails. I also pay an email host (ZeroOne) around $30 a month to host all my email folders online. This means I can access them over the Internet via my desktop or the Palm Treo.

A few weeks ago I was on the beach with my six year old son who was laboriously digging a hole in the sand. Unfortunately, he was using a plastic spade and little progress was being made. Torn between the prospect of stopping him during a very happy time and being on time for a forthcoming interview, I pulled out the Treo and emailed my contact asking for a later interview time. Within a minute, the contact had responded with “no problem” and so I could relax. For someone like me that has to balance the demands of business and personal life every day, fully synchronised mobile email is worth every cent and then some.

Where to get hosting help
Knill says Vodafone tends to refer businesses that need email hosting back to one of its ‘value added resellers’ (VARs). Specialist hosting companies like ZeroOne and ICONZ are also Vodafone VARs and can sell Vodafone devices and mobile data and voice plans along with a hosting service. Katherine East, spokesperson for Telecom, says along with traditional mobile email services from Telecom’s ISP Xtra and services available via VARs like Orb, Telecom also offers a service called Managed Mail via its enterprise solutions arm Gen-i. Managed Mail offers hosted synchronised email and calendaring via Exchange Server, says East, so customers can track, monitor, store, and send and receive email to and from desktops, laptops and mobile devices including Telecom’s $999 Palm Treo 700WX.

Phil Whitehead, account manager for online services host ZeroOne, says hosted email services can be set up with rules to determine what can or can not be delivered to the mobile device in terms of attachments and files. Other features include the security measures such as being able to remotely ‘wipe’ a device in the event it is lost or stolen. It’s also possible to set a mobile device to not synchronise for a set period, says Whitehead – important for global roamers trying to avoid unpredictable international mobile data charges.

As an example of affordability, Whitehead says ZeroOne’s fully synchronised ‘Anywhere Exchange’ plans start from $19 per month per email address (exact hosting costs depend on email storage requirements.) Businesses can also choose which email folders they want synchronised and it’s possible to have rules such as a single email folder for every staff member. There’s no need to do a separate email backup either, says Whitehead – if email is hosted and a mobile device is stolen or the business premises burn down, then current and archived email remain safe on the host’s servers.

For more information visit the Mobile Business Research Pavilion

May 2007

By Vikki Bland

Server Cost Example Comparison: Internal Hosting vs. AnywhereExchange