Yet the industry remains in its infancy and WASP’s are seen as a vital component to propel the market.
The new service is aimed at customers who spend a large proportion of their time away from the office, such as consultants, sales executives and shop floor staff, who need to keep in touch and perform actions based on data held in e-mails, calendars and task lists in Exchange.
A recent study by Ovum on the Mobile Internet market highlights that only 4% of mobile workers access their e-mail through a wireless device, despite the fact that 70% possess a mobile phone. By contrast, over 33 per cent of users accessing ASPs use communications services, such as e-mail, groupware and messaging, making them the most popular applications by far. If the mobile Internet market is to take-off, then the discrepancy highlighted in the Ovum report must be addressed quickly. Today’s announcement underscores the vital contribution that ASPs can make in propelling the mobile Internet market said Tukun Chatterjee, Product Manager, Exchange 2000, Netstore.
Max2000 capitalises on the importance of groupware applications in today’s mobile business environment and allows users to view business critical information when they want to, from where ever they want to. This is what all workers who are out and about are crying out for – no need to rush back to the office in order to make an informed decision. MAX2000 gives Exchange users real-time information they need at their finger tips and the beauty is that it runs across all European mobile phone networks from Vodafone to BT Cellnet added Chatterjee.
Communications is still the ASP killer application said Nick Murphy, Alliance Partnership Marketing, BT Cellnet. We recognise the benefits that MAX2000 offers mobile Internet users and we anticipate a great deal of interest from customers looking to use this service across our network.
Microsoft Exchange is a robust and scalable platform and we are delighted that Netstore has taken it to create an innovative product for the mobile market said Donna Bullock, ASP Marketing Manager, Microsoft. We see MAX2000 as a complimentary offering that will allow users both to maximise and expand their investment in Microsoft Exchange. We have worked closely with Netstore to develop this product and believe that MAX2000 will allow users to exploit the many benefits of the mobile Internet.
To enable easier user maintenance in a shared ASP model, Netstore has also enhanced ASP Central. Both MAX2000 and ASP Central will be available in French and German versions in the coming months.
