Mobile e-mail faces a number of challenges on its way towards becoming standard fare, alongside voice services, in the wireless market. Those obstacles include high fees and corporate reluctance, according to research firm Gartner (see Mob-E-Mail Gradually Overcoming Impediments).

Today, wireless messaging received a boost when the largest mobile operator in the world (152 million subscriber strong) Vodafone unveiled a self-branded real-time 'push' e-mail and personal information management solution (PIM), the result of a deal with white-label vendor Visto.

The companies assert Visto Mobile with ConstantSync provides IT managers with end-to-end AES encryption and an optimized network architecture that requires only 20 percent of the bandwidth of SyncML or IMAP-based solutions.

As opposed to Research in Motion's BlackBerry handheld centric services, Visto Mobile works with a wide variety of handsets (about 50), running on the Symbian, Palm, Windows Mobile, and J2ME MIDP 2.0 platforms.

In fact, Vodfone said it is offering the Visto-powered service to individuals and small/medium size enterprises as an alternative to its RIM BlackkBerry offerings; most likely because of its extensive mobile device support.

Yes, RIM has taken to licensing BlackBerry services to wireless carriers, device manufactures and platform providers, extending the reach of its software beyond BlackBerry devices. Still, RIM supports far fewer devices out-of-the-box than Visto's products.

For Vodafone, the idea behind the Visto agreement is to expand the reach of e-mail and data access services to a wider range of subscribers. Chief marketing officer Peter Bamford declared, "Vodafone push e-mail means more customers can now mobilize their businesses and benefit from greater business productivity and responsiveness whilst on the move.”

Flexibility is important too. “Customers can choose the mobile email solution that complements their IT system, whilst enabling mobile e-mail users and Company IT Managers to select the device that meets their needs," Bamford said.

As voice revenues decline, data services like e-mail and synchronization are becoming increasingly important to carriers to up their average revenue per user, also known as ARPU. Increasing the number of devices Vodafone supports for mobile e-mail should help the carrier attract more customers its e-mail services.

Visto
Unlike competitor RIM, Redwood Shores, CA based Visto entire existence since 1996 has been as a software platform. Visto follows a different business model than RIM, as its main focus is on licensing its mobile e-mail platform to wireless carriers, such as Vodafone, who turn around and sell it under their own brand name.

Additional operators offering Visto powered e-mail and PIM mobile synchronization services in North America, Europe and Asia include AT&T Wireless, Bell Mobility, KPN, Manitoba Telecom Services, Nextel Communications, Inc., Rogers Wireless, SaskTel Mobility, SmarTone and TELUS Mobility.

Visto expects to expand handset support above 50 soon, and aims to have a user base of about 10 million in a couple of years.