Push email and RIM – suitable for the mass market?

As you know, I’m not a big believer in RIM and blackberries. For my own mobile email setup, my Nokia 6630 has a built in IMAP/POP3 client so I use that.

However, at work I’m looking into our mobile email strategy (I work for a consumer broadband ISP). Do you think we should be focussing on developing a good ‘push’ email service that works via SMS/MMS and maybe even a more advanced service with a client download for smartphones to give the full RIM ‘experience’?

Is push email a service that the average consumer wants? Do they really need to know about emails the second they arrive?

Should we just make it easy for users to setup POP3/IMAP on their phones given that a lot of phones now have built in clients?