ThinPrint to push e-mail for free
German-based ThinPrint GmbH wants to make push e-mail a no-cost affair for mobile phone users across the globe.
"Mobile push e-mail is much more economical than sending text messages," said Dirk Löwenberg, business director at Cortado Services in a press statement. "There's no character limit, and it allows the mobile sending and receiving of attachments."
In a media statement, the mobile solutions provider said that it will be launching a free push e-mail solution based on its Cortado platform at the CeBIT tradeshow in Hanover, Germany, on Friday.
The service, dubbed Cortado Free, will offer mobile phone users a free push e-mail account, which they can use to send and receive e-mail in real-time via their handsets.
According to a ThinPrint spokesperson, the Cortado Free service is compatible with 835 different phone models and will be available to mobile phone users worldwide. The service taps on the standard e-mail functions available on mobile phones and does not require any special software installations.
Those who sign up for the free package will receive a personal Cortado e-mail address, spam filter, virus protection, as well as a 20MB e-mail account. Users with existing e-mail accounts can also use Cortado Free to push messages from their IMAP or POP3 inboxes to their handsets, said ThinPrint.
However, the company indicated that the Cortado Free service only supports mobile synchronization of e-mail and not personal information management (PIM) applications such as calendar entries, contacts or notes and tasks.
Customers who want additional features--such as tighter integration with Microsoft Outlook and ActiveSync support--can upgrade to the standard version of Cortado for 4.98 euros (US$6.60) a month, added the company.
According to a study by analyst house Informa Telecoms & Media, more professionals are getting drawn to mobile e-mail because of the lower prices and wider handset support. Informa's study also predicted that the total number of mobile e-mail users is estimated to grow threefold between now and 2011, to almost 212 million worldwide.