Mobile Email Use Surges
2006.
Last year though, mobile e-mail adoption jumped to 24 percent, according to analysts at the Yankee Group. One big change was a move by mobile providers to price email access as part of a mobile data package rather than charging separately for email access, says Jill Aldort, Yankee Group senior analyst.
Another catalyst was that mobile providers made it much easier for users to use email clients for the popular Web-based email applications.
There are 246 million unique mobile phone users in North America but until recently just about eight percent carried smart phones such as a BlackBerry, a Windows Mobile device or a Palm, says Aldort.
But nearly 60 percent of small and medium business mobile professionals and 50 percent of professionals in large enterprises use consumer Web-based email, Aldort says. About 24 percent of adult wireless users use mobile e-mail at least once a month, compared to 36 percent of adult consumers who use text messaging at least once a month.
The highest email usage occurs among 18- to 34-year-olds. Because 39 percent of T-Mobile’s subscriber base in the Yankee Group survey falls within the 18 to 34 age range, it’s also not surprising that that this operator has the highest penetration of active mobile e-mail users relative to its overall market share, says Aldort.
| What are the top five applications you are most interested in using?
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| Age | |||||
| Ranking | 18 - 24 | 25 - 34 | 35 - 44 | 45 - 54 | 55 and older |
| 1 | Texting (88%) | Texting (76%) | Texting (71%) | Texting (69%) | Texting (71%) |
| 2 | MMS (58%) | MMS (57%) | E-Mail (61%) | E-Mail (68%) | E-Mail (66%) |
| 3 | E-Mail (61%) | E-Mail (61%) | MMS (57%) | MMS (57%) | MMS (57%) |
| 4 | Internet (41%) | Internet (49%) | Internet (45%) | Info/directions (44%) | Info/directions (48%) |
| 5 | Ringtones (36%) | Ringtones (40%) | Ringtones (42%) | Internet (37%) | Internet (39%) |
| Express interest in mobile data | 90% | 88% | 79% | 66% | 47% |
| Source: Yankee Group
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T-Mobile also offers an inexpensive unlimited usage plan costing $5.99 monthly.
T-Mobile’s BlackBerry email plans are also the most affordable among the top operators, Aldort says.
Prior to the new thinking about packaging and pricing, many mobile operators charged an à la carte monthly fee of $2.99 or more for access to mobile e-mail or they charged per message. Bundling email access with a Web access plan seems to have struck consumers as a better deal.
Making email easier to use also seems to have had a salutary effect. Forcing users to discover and then download a mobile client obviously depressed usage.
Starting in 2006, it became more common for mobile operators and OEMs to embed e-mail clients on the handset. At&t launched its combination mobile e-mail and IM client in July 2006.
The new plans also deliver more value since users can access their accounts with multiple Web providers without paying an additional fee for each account. “Push” email features and attachment support might also have helped.
Another key change was making those features available on feature phones, not just smart phones expressly designed for email.
