January 12, 2007

JV Rolls a SEVEN

By Jim Barthold

Appropriately enough, during a week when CES had the world's eyes riveted on Las Vegas, the cable-Sprint Nextel joint venture rolled a SEVEN for mobile email services.

The decision to use email software from Redwood City, CA-based SEVEN isn't a gamble for the JV; it's a strategic move to take advantage of converged opportunities being presented via the wireless and wireline aspects of the JV's partners, said Kevin Packingham, vice president of marketing and product development for Sprint Nextel.

Email "certainly ranks high up with what we think is critical from a service perspective," Packingham said. "Because this is part of the traditional experience they get through their broadband provider, it has tremendous value. Now they can open up their handsets, one click, and they're ready for email that's waiting for them."

SEVEN's software makes email "as simple as voice mail in a mobile phone offering," said Jason Guesman, SEVEN's vice president of sales and marketing. "It's a java application that supports their email services – Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, Brighthouse – and it also supports AOL and MSN. It truly is an Outlook-type experience on their phones, and they don't have to deal with the frustrations of dealing with a Web browser ... the mail just appears on the phone, and they can navigate between in-boxes and a slew of other functionality."

Keep it simple

Simplicity is the key, agreed Packingham, who said that SEVEN already helped build Sprint Nextel's own email package. The new JV package is built on the same platform, but improved by connecting the user with home email and adding features to simplify the experience from sign-up to receiving and reading an email.

"Because we know that they're a (cable partner) customer, we can pre-configure all the settings for them. It dramatically simplifies the setup process and their ability to use the application," he said. "When you slip open the phone as a joint venture customer, you have four buttons: the main menu, video, email and the portal or Web ... so with one click, they now have access to their email."

Any changes to that email, either on the phone or on the traditional PC, are reflected in both places, said Guesman.

Not a forwarding service

"It's not a forwarding service. The mail is delivered to your phone, but it's a representation of what's on the server," he said. "This is truly access to your email account, and it's not about having to deal with forwarding and separate accounts."

It's also not about dealing with voice minutes, Packingham emphasized.

"It's part of a data package that we offer our customers, so it's unlimited. We're trying to package things functionally. We have bundles of text messaging, and we want to make sure they have enough text messages in their bucket of services and make sure that they have plenty of ability to access the data network so they can read their email," he said.

SEVEN's biggest contribution might be the way the whole email package looks.

"A lot of people have made attempts to create a mobile email product. You do have some restrictions around how the content can be formatted and what the application would look like, since you are dealing with a smaller device and a smaller screen, which traditionally does not have a keyboard with it," said Packingham. "They've just done a great job in trying to re-create the natural environment that customers are accustomed to on their desktop computers when they're using email in a much more compact environment."

It is, he said, another example of what can be accomplished with the joint venture, which is, to date, launched in two Comcast (Boston and Portland, OR) and two Time Warner (Raleigh, NC, and Austin, TX) markets.

"There are a lot of different services that we can cross-pollinate between platforms ... so we spend a lot of time talking to customers and making sure we're pulling the services together in a way that makes sense to them. We'll take the things that are important to them in their home and make those mobile; take the things that are important to them in the mobile environment and inject those into the house," Packingham said.

- Jim Barthold