Vodafone launches “push” mobile e-mail service

Vodafone has unveiled their version of the “push” mobile e-mail service in addition to the similar services provided by Blackberry and Microsoft. The company is aiming to consolidate the fragmented and complicated mobile e-mail market. However, considering they now have three front ends on offer for same functionality, they might end up confusing the end user.

Vodafone’s own offering is based on Visto’s push e-mail software and comes powered by a server and management features in a similar manner as provided by the Blackberry Enterprise Server. However, they also offer this Blackberry Enterprise Server in addition to the Microsoft’s e-mail service supported by Microsoft Exchange and mobile flavors of Windows.

Vodafone Business e-mail and the Blackberry service both costs the end user around £28 per month for e-mail, calendar, and contacts delivered from a corporate server behind the firewall. An e-mail-only version is available for £10 to £15 per month. However, user has to pay an additional £41 as roaming charge, with data then going onto a £8.75 per megabyte tariff.

A Vodafone spokesperson said in a statement about their new services: “Device management is a new feature, beyond the mobile e-mail available from Vodafone in other countries. We held back the launch in the UK in order to have a more complete product.”

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