EMail in your PostBox

Utility of postbox in the e-World has been reduced to nothing. Gone are the days when mails were dropped in your PostBox, rather we have now e-mail getting delivered in your InBox.

But recently the old concept has been wrapped differently with the launch of a new email client named PostBox. Apparently it looks like yet another user interface which facilitates email reading but this one has got some distinctive features.

Fundamental purpose remains integration of commonly used tools which helps us in organizing ourselves under one roof i.e. email, calendar, TO-DO lists, contacts etc. But in addition this tool stresses more on the "Search" aspect. With volume of communication over emails increasing, we tend to lose track, more so because we rely on technology more than our mind. So i guess it is more meaningful to have the ability to find stuff faster. Otherwise we end up with the feeling of Deja vu.

This product has been built on Mozilla platform integrated with a strong indexing algorithm for efficient search. Apart from the usual search based on "From", "To", 'Subject" it also have provisions to have complex & customized search. On top of it, concept of "Search Tabs" and "Compose Sidebar" has been added to improve search efficiency

Another feature which I found very interesting. Use the Annotate function to change the subject message, edit its content, or even add notes. You can create a copy of your changes if you want to keep the original message, and everything will be grouped and displayed together in one conversation.

Concept sounds interesting but we need to wait and watch the reaction of the users. Firstly most of the corporates have moved away from POP / IMAP and secondly when there are so many options already available in the market e.g. Outlook Express, Thunderbird etc it will not be so easy to drag people out to something new.

SKY(pe) is the limit

"Skype" - What started as simple concept of PC-to-PC call has matured itself to next generation of communication. Initially the excitement was more pertaining to the 'FREE' part but once people got addicted to it, more commercial models are evolving.

As skype celebrated its fifth birthday recently, IP based alternatives are slowly getting momentum in the industry and poised to be the future communication channel. Today VoIP is being used more for internal use by corporates or as a cost cutting measure but gradually it is becoming more affordable to extend such services to fixed line or mobile network.

Recenly, there was a moment, there were 15 million simultaneous users of Skype out of which around one third were purely using it for business purpose. Also the industry reports states that around 380,000 users are getting added per day. We are also seeing growing number of mobile Skype users which means it is not longer restricted to PC. According to the data released by TeleGeography Research, Skype accounted for eight per cent of the world's international calling minutes in 2008.

Now with version 4.0 being out, which is supposed to be have better audio quality and manage bandwidth efficiently, skype is more suitably placed to enter the enterprise market. Model was already cost effective and scalability but now reliability also getting added.

Integrating with the existing telephony network not only breaks the dependency on PC but also on the need of internet for completing the network. With broadband penetration being low on developing nations, it will beneficial to leverage the existing communication link. Of course, legal aspects needs to be sorted out.

So I feel, in days to come we will see more involvement from enterprise, more so because of the current economic conditions.