Thread: Consilient Push: Look out, BlackBerry and SMS

Text messaging has been a 'killer app' since a long time. Well, it could receive
some stiff competition from the Internet's own 'killer app' - e-mail! Although accessing e-mail on one's cell phone is nothing new, it is far from the easiest task as one needs to repeatedly download mails or go to the relevant website to view them. Push mail has the ability to deliver mail to your device the moment it arrives in your inbox, but this service has been a paid service and is mostly the preserve of BlackBerry. However, there are indications that those days might be over.

The last year saw the emergence of free push mail, with a number of developers coming up with solutions that allowed users to get mail on their handsets the moment it came into their inbox. Perhaps the most notable of these applications is Consilient Push, which allows users to access a number of web mail as well as corporate e-mail IDs on their handsets, free of cost (apart from the cost of data transferred) the moment it arrives! Users can even view attachments, provided their phone supports the file formats.



The implications of this could be vast-users can now send and receive e-mail as easily as they can send and receive text messages. And what's more, unlike in text messages, there is no limit on the length of a message you can send or receive. One can also attach a video and send it to a friend without having to worry about forking out MMS charges. The speed and reliability of delivery would be around the same as text messaging, and you would also be able to use your phone normally while your mail arrives and departs. Could this spell the end of SMS and maybe even the likes of BlackBerry? Who knows? Push mail definitely has the potential to do so.