Infowave extends popular wireless email system, takes dead aim at RIM’s BlackBerry

Vancouver-based Infowave Software Inc. is hoping to break Research in Motion Ltd.’s stranglehold on the mobile messaging market with a new server line addressing the growing PDA customer base. The company’s Infowave Mobile Messaging (IMM) server product is designed to connect the millions of Palm- and Pocket PC-based devices already on the market to corporate email systems. Capitalizing on the sheer number of devices on the market, the IMM server could position the company to capture a significant portion of the corporate wireless email software market. Providing support to a broad range of devices with different operating systems is key to the company’s strategy, says Infowave’s executive VP sales and marketing Bill Tam. "What we’re trying to do is (to capitalize) on a wave of new device trends in the market and capitalize on what we see to be the more pervasive device types that are out there that don’t have a solid solution for providing wireless email." While Tam wouldn’t provide any projections on the company’s potential market share grab, he expressed optimism about the potential. "What we’re trying to do is to ride that device trend to take as much as we can of that market," he says. Infowave has reason to be optimistic. Figures from Telecom Trends International (TTI) show that Pocket PC- and Palm-based device shipments will far outpace those of any other devices. Together, both types of devices had more than 75 per cent of the market in 2001. This year, TTI projects these devices will continue to dominate the wireless device market with 12 million devices shipped or three-quarters of the total market. To date, the corporate wireless messaging market has been dominated by proprietary systems such as that offered by RIM’s BlackBerry devices. Infowave’s strategy was to move away from this and provide a broader system capable of handling various devices with varying operating systems. "Our position is to allow companies to move beyond point proprietary solutions into a realm of more standardized platforms that they can really scale over time," Tam tells Report on Wireless. He admits that RIM has been the poster child for wireless messaging thus far, but adds that there is still tremendous upside left in the market. While the BlackBerry device has captured a lot of attention, adoption rates are still early in the cycle and there will be two primary driving factors behind greater uptake, he says. "The push for 2.5G, whether it’s 1X or GPRS, will actually create a whole new set of momentum for adopting wireless data and of course messaging will be one of the first adopted services and applications out there," he explains. "The second driver is the push towards integrated devices. Each one of these initiatives alongside the carrier and network service provider push will actually generate a whole new level of buzz in the marketplace for wireless messaging." The IMM server, which works directly with the Microsoft Exchange Server, builds on the success of Infowave’s desktop email redirector product Symmetry Pro, which has been well received in the market. The only drawback with the Symmetry Pro system is that users have to leave the desktop on so that email can be forwarded from the PC to the wireless device. With the release of the new messaging server, the company boasts a full line of software systems supporting the entire wireless IT needs of an enterprise. Infowave offers its Wireless Business Engine to companies looking to connect their back-end applications such as customer relationship management or enterprise resource planning systems wirelessly. "This product is in many ways complementary because it provides the first step into the wireless game, but certainly, we have products that address the broader requirements (of an enterprise)," Tam explains. In addition to using its direct sales force to knock on doors, Infowave will also count on its hardware partners like Hewlett-Packard and Compaq (now a single company) and use its carrier relationships with AT&T Wireless and Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. as marketing initiatives. In the hardware space, bundling the Symmetry Pro system with the Compaq iPAQ product is one way to get a user base that could eventually be migrated to the IMM product, Tam explains. "On the carrier/operator side, we’re working with carrier partners to build go-to-market solutions that’s going to allow them to take advantage of the 2.5G networks that they have in place," Tam says. Wireless email is only the first step in an evolutionary move to standardized systems in the wireless data space, he says. "What we’re really trying to do is to break the logjam of having the hardware and the software so integrally tied and more into a framework that is more in line with how the PC environment has evolved over the last 10 or 15 years," Tam explains. "That being said we use standard operating system platforms to really be the cornerstone of building applications on top and we think that wireless email will be one of the first catalysts in making people move to these types of environments."

Infowave extends popular wireless email system, takes dead aim at RIM’s BlackBerry

News | September 16, 2002

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