Nokia takes on the BlackBerry with own push email

Nokia has announced it is launching its own mobile email product to take on the likes of Microsoft and RIM's BlackBerry.

The Nokia Business Center software will come in two versions - the standard client, which will allow any number of users to access push email with each server bought, and a more expensive professional client, providing more functionality, including a desktop-style graphical interface.

The Java-based software will be initially supported by six Nokia devices, including the 9500 Communicator, the 9300 smart phone and the 6680. Further devices will join the push email portfolio "shortly", according to the phone maker.

Sea Containers, a global shipping company which generated $1.74bn in revenue last year, has already signed up to use Nokia's push email offering. The company's CIO, Duncan Scott, put the decision down to value for money and security.

Nokia Business Centre will be available in Q4 of this year.

News of Nokia's move into the world of mobile email comes as analysts have found that nearly two-thirds of businesses are looking into deploying wireless messaging.

According to a new report from research firm Quocirca, for wireless email company Intellisync, more than 60 per cent of businesses are now looking at mobile email, while 55 per cent are mulling deploying other mobile applications.

Elaine Axby, principal analyst at Quocirca, said the influence of the techie is key in increasing wireless email adoption. "There's beginning to be even greater convergence of IT and telecoms," she told silicon.com. "[Mobile email] has been bottom-up driven - now we're seeing the IT departments getting in on the act."

However, most mobile email rollouts are still being conducted in a scattergun way, with just 18 per cent of European organisations surveyed undertaking deployments in a coherent, business-led manner. "In order to reach tipping point, it's got to be a considered, strategic decision on the part of the organisation," Axby said. "It has to be thought through carefully, particularly on the device side."

Devices, however, are still being deployed in an equally erratic fashion, according to separate research.

A recent report into the state of workforce mobility from Nokia, carried out by research firm Simpson Carpenter, found that the majority of mobile devices used at work are still supplied by the staff themselves, with just 30 per cent of work phones being purchased by the organisation.

The report also found that 24 per cent of decision makers believe their staff are using mobiles for work, while the real figure is around 50 per cent.

"This gap in the assessment of mobile technology's importance at large businesses, points to the underlying reality that decision makers remain behind the mobility curve and employees continue to pull them forward," the report said.