With the mass market for mobile email something of a holy grail for a host of solutions companies and operators, recent revealing a potential market of more than 16 million consumers in the UK will be welcomed.
However, unlike users of corporate mobile email, British consumers overwhelmingly want to be able to control who they receive emails from on their mobile, and the majority of consumers cite “low cost” as very important.
Survey figures published byy Critical Path, one provider of messaging software and services, show that 84% of UK consumers want the ability to select which messages they receive on their mobile phone, and 62% rank “low cost” as a very important mobile email feature. A massive 96% of consumers are not willing to buy an expensive mobile phone just to get mobile email, but 56% of UK consumers would feel “out of touch” with friends and family without email access for just a single week.
Mike Serbinis, chief technology officer at Critical Path, said:Â “There is a big opportunity for mobile operators to drive data revenue with the consumer mobile email market, which is largely untapped. However, the key to success will be to listen to what consumers are saying and not just retro-fit enterprise-focused services. Consumers want an affordable service that is easy to use, works on their current phone, and can deliver messages from their current email account.”
Critical Path conducted the UK survey to research consumer attitudes about the use of email and, in particular, to gauge interest in the use of mobile email services.
“The polling results provided us with interesting insight into the UK and European mobile consumer markets,” added Serbinis. “It is clear that consumers have unique needs and behaviours, and that the solutions business executives use currently will not satisfy the mass market.