Similar to text messages, brevity is a growing necessity with Blackberry communications and it is leading to people doing things like including a disclaimer at the bottom of their emails apologizing for the short replies, and possible grammatical and spelling errors of their message. Apparently having small keys is enough of an excuse to spell poorly and forget about periods or commas. I wish we had that excuse when were were in school. Still, we have all seen this effect and to a degree have probably learned to accept it because there wasn’t an alternative.

Probably, you don’t even think about it anymore … until a campaign like the “Terse Reply Syndrome” from Jott reminds you that those short mistyped replies are no way to communicate. Jott has a beta service that allows you to speak a reply into your Blackberry and it will type it for you. That alone is an interesting and useful service (assuming it actually works), but as a marketer you can learn a lot from their approach to launching it. The Terse Reply Syndrome (TRS) is a situation that most businesspeople will immediately recognize, whether they have been on the receiving or sending end of these types of messages. And we would all love to find a better way. The campaign works because it talks about a real situation of need that many business people will be familiar with, and presents a solution that allows you to use the same tools you are used to using. Their videos (shot in the style of a “when the moment is right” Viagra ad), promise “side effects” of longer more thoughtful replies, less thumb stress, and more free time.

This is where the message really hits home, because you can have better communications without giving up your Blackberry. Their useful blog offers further tips on how to effectively use their service, and it even works with lots of common social media tools. The service is in limited beta and free at the moment, but you should sign up quickly because eventually it will be a paid service. It’s easy to imagine this is one of those few services where once you try it for free, you are probably going to pay for it.* Smart marketing combined with a great and useful service. This is the type of Web2.0 service we could all use more of.

* Note - This post is about the marketing behind Jott. I haven’t been able to try it yet as it doesn’t appear that you can use it on a Blackberry that is issued from work when your employer doesn’t pay for phone access (which my employer doesn’t). If anyone knows a way around this, please share!

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It’s only available for IE Mobile on Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices, but they already have Zoho and Buxfer as Google Gears providers.

With Google Gears for mobile integrated into mobile Zoho and Buxfer, you can now access these web applications even when your phone is disconnected from the mobile web. Stuck on a plane? No problem - you can still read your docs on your mobile with Zoho Writer Mobile offline. Want to buy that new plasma TV, but can’t remember how much is in your account? Check your balance with Buxfer’s mobile web application, even if there is no cell phone signal.

Here’s what caught my eye…

Once installed, Gears sits happily on your phone helping you stay connected to your data - even when you lose your network connection.

So why can’t we get the same for web services? If you want to use Google Gears for Google Reader, for example, you have to go “offline” first. In other words, you have to manually switch to offline mode, for Google Gears to work. It seems like the mobile version doesn’t have that step, making it much more valuable.

I don’t know about you, but there are many times that I didn’t expect to lose my web connection-or I’m at a crappy conference without WiFi-so why can’t I get the same feature???

Want to learn more? There’s a video you can watch, though I’ve not watched it myself yet. Let me know if it’s any good.

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The paper, entitled “How Google Android Stimulates the Mass Market for Mobile Email and how Funambol Mobile Open Source Monetizes It”, discusses how Google Android will spur adoption of mobile email by large numbers of people and how Google Android and Funambol can transform the market. Funambol is the leading provider of Mobile 2.0 messaging software powered by open source.

Also in the paper, Funambol poses-and answers questions for the mobile industry like:

- How will mass market mobile email be enabled by Android and Funambol?
- What do the new market dynamics mean to prices and control within the industry?
- How do mobile service providers make money in this new environment?
- Who are the new telecom winners and losers?

The introduction of the paper talks about the future of mobile email:

If you could view how mobile email will be used in the future, what would you see? Will everyone use mobile email or will it remain the province of a few? What mobile industry companies will be stronger or weaker than they are today? And what impact will Google Android and Funambol mobile open source make on mobile email? To answer these questions, let’s take a look at the future users of mobile email, what they want in a solution and the mobile email value chain.

The Funambol paper talks about the following:
- Mass market mobile email trends and user requirements
- The mobile email value chain and the end game for mobile email
- What is Google Android - and what is it not?
- What are Google’s aspirations for mobile and for mobile email in particular?
- How can mobile operators and service providers benefit from S.O.S. - standards, open source and synchronization

Funambol is working with its community to build an open source client for Android to enable it to work with the Funambol server. Once Android-enabled phones come to market, Funambol will enable people to use their phone for push email, contacts and calendars, as well as for syncing all types of content. This provides other companies in the mobile industry with a way to embrace rather than compete with Android.

To download the Funambol position paper, go here. Registration is required.

Funambol provides mobile 2.0 messaging software that is powered by open source. The company is the leading provider of open source push email and PIM synchronization solutions for mass market consumers. Funambol’s open source software has been downloaded more than 1,500,000 times by a global network of 10,000 developers in 200 countries. The commercial version of Funambol’s software has been deployed at service providers, mobile operators, portals, device manufacturers and ISVs including customers such as 1&1, Earthlink and Computer Associates. Funambol is headquartered in Redwood City, California with an R&D center in Italy.

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