Mobile email access doubles in six months

Whilst desktops are still the most popular medium of accessing emails, mobile use is rising quickly, reports suggest.

An independent study of over 130 million emails sent by more than 90 email marketing companies found that whilst webmail (Hotmail, Gmail and the like) still holds the largest market share at 48 per cent, email is rising quickly, jumping from 9.2 per cent in October 2010 to 16 per cent in March this year. Elsewhere, desktop programs such as Outlook accounted for 36 per cent of email use.

As mobile usage rose, it saw market share of both webmail and desktop programs fall by 4 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. These figures have been forecast to continue in the coming months and years, with the tablet and smartphone market growing rapidly.

Head of the study Bryan Dreller explained to Direct Marketing News their surprise at the results. "I think what really surprised us is the very rapid growth in mobile as a proportion of all platforms," he said.

"I don't think we expected to see that in just a six-month period; mobile viewership relative to its peers would nearly double."

The study also took into account the individual days and times people access their emails, finding that desktop usage falls over the weekend whilst the figures for mobiles grew.

Dreller told Information Week why the rise has been so prolific, saying, "With the rise of the iPad and the tablet market, mobile has been redefined."

"According to our study, iPad viewership has grown 15 per cent between October 2010 and March 20122 and we expect to continue to see this percentage grow with the recent release of the iPad2. Marketers need to adapt to this change in where and when consumers are accessing email and online content."