Gartner Says Wireless E-Mail will be a Built-In Application on All Smartphones by the End of 2008

Gartner Says Wireless E-Mail will be a Built-In Application on All Smartphones by the End of 2008: “Gartner analysts presented the future of wireless applications during the Gartner Wireless & Mobile Summit, which is being held here April 11-13. Gartner analysts said wireless e-mail is becoming a mainstream application alongside mobile voice communications, but the variance between those who can communicate via voice and those who can communicate via e-mail is still significant.

‘Operators are reluctant to permit widespread messaging access to their networks without collecting fees from those who send such messages, such as spam,’ said Ken Dulaney, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. ‘However, operators will lose this battle the same way that telecommunications companies lost the battle against an open Internet.’

At this time, wireless e-mail adoption is limited by high monthly prices charged by operators for data services for Research In Motion’s Blackberry, combined with a poor understanding of the key benefits of wireless e-mail to the organization. Gartner analysts said this is no different from the early days of mobile voice. The period from invention of mobile voice to mass adoption was lengthy, but mass adoption of mobile e-mail should be much faster. ” …

Good to see that also Gartner Group is putting the RIM business model up for discussion. Symbian, Nokia and Motorola have already licensed Microsoft’s Activesync solution which enables their smartphones to sync with Microsoft Exchange out-of-the-box.