Figure Out Your Mobile Strategy Now...So You Can Fix It Later

Business mobile email is expanding at a dramatic pace—the number of subscribers worldwide will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 36.5% through 2014, according to IDC—and that growth has significant implications for email marketers.

Currently, 20% of all mobile phones are smartphones, and IDC forecasts smartphone shipments will grow 55.4% this year.

Marketers should be paying particular attention to touch-screen smartphones—such as the Apple iPhone, Palm Pre and Motorola Droid—and how such devices will change the way users read emails.

When you can touch your emails and move them around, that will have a significant impact on the ease and access to messages that we have. Imagine your IBM newsletter that's split into three sections came through and you really thought the first section was the most important. Imagine when you can drag that first section to the top and put in a request that all future emails have that section on the top.”

Also, if Apple adds its FaceTime video chat to the iPad—a move expected in the coming months—the door opens for marketers to include video chats in email, Mullen said.

By 2012, many large b2b companies will be switching over from laptops to tablet computers, most of which will be touch-enabled and built for mobile access. Determining how to reach mobile readers will be the No. 1 area of focus for email marketers.

Lately, I feel like the crazy person that stands on the street yelling "the end is near!" But if you're not building for a mobile strategy, you're going to find yourself in a really bad position pretty quickly as we move into 2011.