Qualcomm to target mass market with push-mobile e-mail

Reviving a venerable name in e-mail, Qualcomm is trying to accomplish what Blackberry and Seven haven't yet been able to accomplish--bring push-mobile e-mail to the mass market, launching a BREW-based e-mail client called Eudora2Go.

Eudora2Go's namesake was the most popular e-mail client in the world during the early '90s before Microsoft locked the market down with its enormously popular and now ubiquitous Outlook product line. But according to Bill Ganon, vice president of Qualcomm's Eudora products group, the old e-mail client still enjoys a loyal albeit somewhat smaller following, which prompted Qualcomm to launch a mobile version of the software. Partnering with Rockliffe Systems and Intellisync, Qualcomm is releasing a BREW-download version of Eudora, a POP3 and IMAP e-mail client that has additional mobile features. The biggest of those features is Pre-mail, a push solution that sends a truncated version of every e-mail to the user via SMS, allowing him to preview the subject line and first few lines of every message before opting to establish a data connection.

Verizon Wireless announced at CTIA Wireless that it would be Eudora2Go's first customer, putting the client download in its Get It Now application menu and charging $6 a month for service. Today Eudora2Go went live, and Qualcomm made the solution available to other BREW partners.

By making Eudora2Go a BREW application instead of one sitting on a proprietary device or upscale mobile OS, Qualcomm is hoping to target mass market consumers instead of only enterprise or high-end users that can afford a Blackberry device or Smartphone. Qualcomm still has far to go to accomplish that vision. Today only one Samsung BREW phone can support the service, but Ganon said Verizon has targeted several other handsets for upgrade so they can support the service. Eventually, Qualcomm and its partners hope to make the application available to a majority of BREW devices.