Meemo, a mobile e-mail service released three months ago in SA, aims to give every cellphone user push e-mail.
Garry Hodgson, MD of Meemo SA, notes: “There are 12 000 WAP-enabled cellphone models on the market, while there are only 800 smartphones. Managers can give their staff the same business benefit of a BlackBerry but without the cost. Users can send e-mails that cost less than an SMS, at 1c an e-mail. And users don't have character limitations as they would do an SMS.”
According to Hodgson, Gartner published a report stating that there are currently 10 million push e-mail accounts. The research house expects this to grow by 350 million users in 2010. Hodgson claims: “The cellphone needs to be WAP-enabled and support POP or IMAP Internet formats. The solution doesn't require the Mobile Windows operating system and allows users to open and read all Microsoft Office attachments; Powerpoint presentations; PDFs; and JPG files. However, the user won't be able to edit them.”
Users log onto the Internet and sign up for free by submitting in their cellphone number, username and e-mail service provider (such as gmail). They then receive an activation password and once registration is completed, they get a two-week free trial of the product. After the two weeks they have the opportunity to choose to pay R29.99 per month for the service, which is not an auto-renewal contract.
Some of the channel agents in the pipeline include UCT, Atlantic, Chat Cellular and Liberty Group. Meemo is currently in discussion with MTN. Hodgson says: “Initially, I wanted the service to be available to any number, which is why I had not originally approached MTN or Vodacom because they prefer exclusivity.”
A barrier in cellular communications is that every cellphone has a different WAP browser so there's no standard, Hodgsen says. The solution combats this challenge by reformatting the e-mail data on Meemo's server. This allows users to send and receive documents on two different phones with two different WAP browsers.
Every five minutes, the system checks the user's e-mail and sends an alert. This can be customised as to the time period in which the user wants to receive their e-mail, as well as what time they want to receive alerts. Users can choose whether to receive e-mails from anybody or from specific e-mail addresses, to manage e-mail content and control spam.
“From a security perspective, it's 100% safe,” claims Hodgson. “There's a secure link between our server and the customer's server so nobody can intercept it. Meemo uses a security system similar to international companies like AT&T and Verizon use to protect their data. Users also have the option to enable secure sockets.”
The next version of the solution is already on the cards and will be able to synchronise Microsoft Outlook contacts and calendar entries, he says. The latest version is expected to be released early next year.
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