E-mail on mobile devices isn't just for power breakfasts anymore.
Consumer subscribers to Sprint's mobile phone service can now get access to their Yahoo e-mail like executives can with Research
In Motion's BlackBerry. With the Yahoo Mail for Mobile service announced Wednesday, Sprint will provide client software that
lets users send and receive e-mail instantly, synchronize with their Yahoo Mail accounts continuously and store e-mail on
the phone for reading while out of Sprint's coverage area.
The launch comes just weeks after Nextel Communications Inc. began offering two-way e-mail on its Java-enabled phones, extending
that carrier's e-mail offerings beyond its BlackBerry offering. Nextel's Mobile Email Enhanced service can work with Microsoft
Outlook, IBM Lotus Notes and most Internet e-mail accounts.
The Yahoo Mail service on Sprint phones uses client software from Seven Networks, in Redwood City, Calif. Seven did special
integration work with Yahoo that allows for pushed e-mail or immediate notification of new incoming mail, as well as real-time
access to a Yahoo Mail contact list, said Jeff Damir, vice president of sales and business development at Seven.
Seven already offers a handset client for using business e-mail with systems such as Microsoft Exchange, along with more limited
access to ISP (Internet service provider) or Web-based e-mail accounts, but it is now branching out deliberately to consumers.
"There's a heck of a lot of people that rely on ISP and consumer e-mail," Damir said. "While the industry has been growing
nicely, the market potential is enormous."
The company is already looking beyond the Yahoo-Sprint service with a new version of its Consumer Edition software due to
ship to service providers this month, Damir said. The new Consumer Edition, which includes both client and back-end software,
will let users access multiple Exchange, Notes, ISP and Internet e-mail accounts via the same client. Services based on that
software could become available in the third quarter, he said.
Yahoo Mail for Mobile is available on the PalmOne Inc. Treo 600 and 650 as well as three phones that will use a J2ME (Java
2 Platform, Micro Edition) client: Sprint's MM-A700 from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and the MM-7400 and MM-5600 from Sanyo
Electric Co. Ltd. On the Palm devices, subscribers can choose to get their new e-mail pushed to the device automatically.
On the Java phones, they can choose to have a text message sent and then respond to that message to have the new mail sent.
With both types of phones they can also synchronize with their e-mail accounts manually when they choose, Damir said.
Once synchronization takes place, messages will appear as read or deleted whether the user is viewing them on the phone or
on the Web. Also, the most recent 25 messages (75 with the larger-capacity Palm devices) are stored on the phone so they can
be read offline, he said.
Large e-mail messages are truncated to 2K per message on Java phones or the user's choice of 1K, 2K or 3K on the Palm devices.
After opening a message, they can bring up more of it. Attachments can be viewed on the Palm devices using DataViz Inc.'s
Documents To Go PalmOS software, but there is no viewer yet for the Java phones, Damir said.
The service is available now and costs $2.99 per month plus applicable text-messaging charges. It can be purchased from the
handset.
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