Visto Corporation, the partner company behind many carriers’ mobile email services, announced the findings of a survey the company commissioned to identify and target key drivers for mobile email adoption. 
Based on the research, Visto predicts that market penetration of mobile email could reach as high as 70% of mobile professionals by the end of 2007.
The survey, powered by online data collection software and global panels from GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), a provider of global market intelligence solutions, polled mobile business professionals who rely on email at their desk in the UK, Spain and the USA.
Close to 60% of those surveyed admitted that, just a year ago, they regarded mobile email as solely the domain of the elite within an organisation, or too expensive, or limited to a few special devices. Today, those attitudes have changed, with 70% believing that the service had become less exclusive, more affordable and with far greater device choice.
Findings also revealed that the rate of uptake is also on the increase. While only 40% of those surveyed were currently using mobile email, half of those had begun to in the last year, and a further 30% believed they would begin to use the service in the next three to 12 months.
The research also showed evidence that choice was the overriding factor behind the surge in uptake. Of those currently using the service, only 15% were doing so, because they had been instructed by their company – a further endorsement of Visto’s work.life research from 2006, which showed mobile executives welcomed the chance to use technology, and specifically mobile email, to increase their ability to manage both work and personal commitments.
Indeed, this desire to balance work and life was emphasised by the fact that the largest number of people – 31% – were attracted by the ability to get work and personal email on one mobile phone. Greater device choice at a lower cost influenced more than 25%, with a further 29% citing that mobile email had simply become a necessity in their lives.
In the past year, Visto has more than tripled its subscriber base, and announced almost a dozen new mobile operator customers across North America, Europe and Asia.