Blackberry Surrenders 5 Points of Mobile E-Mail Market Share in 1H 2006

Strategy Analytics: Open Mobile Email Standards & ASP Traction are Vital Long-term TrendsThat while RIM's market share in the first half of 2006 dipped 5 points to 59 percent, the installed base of mobile email users is set to double this year. The hottest future growth areas will be driven by two forces: Traction among the `Hosted Exchange Server' providers that control nearly a third of the business email market, and the emergence of mobile email standards given the demonstrated ability of technology standards to build sustainable, innovative and highly competitive markets. OMA DS (Device Synch, formerly SynchML) and particularly P-IMAP / LEMONADE as crucial standards.

Maturing open mobile email standards and notably more aggressive mobility plays among email ASP's will prove to be major catalysts in mobilizing over 15 percent of business inboxes by 2009 and cutting today's $30-plus ARPU's in half. By wringing cost, complexity and IPR uncertainty of out of the solution delivery equation, we see both ASP models and the advent of standards as critical, long-term enablers that will put a good mobile email experience well within reach of the average business user. While standards pioneers like Consilient, Synchronica and Funambol show significant upside potential in the long term, Mail2Web, MailStreet and 4Smartphone are among the email ASP's that will boost mobile email adoption in the short-to-medium term. RIM should succeed in protecting the high end of the market they now own if they continue to execute well. These trends present a larger threat to Visto, Intellisync & Seven's 19 percent 'carrier white label' share of the market.

Open Standards and ASP Traction Threaten Visto, Intellisync & Seven's 19% `Carrier White Label' Share of Mobile Email Market Publ 20060808