Inbox Insider: E-mail continues to gravitate toward mobile

As the mobile Web gets more popular and smartphones are more ubiquitous, we are seeing e-mail platforms expand their offering to the mobile space. Be it through an SMS platform or just through the optimization of e-mail on the mobile Web, the lines between e-mail and the mobile phone are becoming less defined.

This week Lyris is moving into the mobile side with the debut of Lyris HQ Mobile, a new SMS offering. Lyris joins Exact Target, Constant Contact, Pivotal Veracity and others by offering a one-stop shop for e-mail and mobile marketing.

I think we will be seeing more of these types of offerings from ESPs. It makes sense to have data, e-mail, mobile, etc. coming from the same portal to keep consistency within an organization. Being able to streamline operations is key in making things more efficient and in making things more cost effective.

With JupiterResearch predicting that there will be 371 million US wireless subscribers by 2013, it makes sense for e-mailers to get in on the mobile scene, especially due to the similarity in the one-to-one type of communication that both channels offer. And while they both certainly have their own distinctions – mobile reaching people on-the-go and e-mails often being rechecked on the PC – smartphones are bringing them ever closer together.