Better Email on Your Mobile Device

As more and more of our email arrives on mobile devices, it becomes increasingly complicated to keep all that information streamlined.

If your small business relies on email, then check out these 5 products to improve how your mobile device handles all that mail, and how you can upgrade your current email setup to the same systems used by large corporate users, without the need for any major investments in equipment.

Hosted Blackberry Enterprise Service

The basic small business Blackberry solution usually involves a simple system of email forwards or irregular "polling" of your work email account.

For a very small investment, you can move your Blackberry onto the same kind of service used by large corporate users.

A "hosted BES" or Blackberry Enterprise Service offers your device instant push email, better Internet browsing and enhanced security. In addition to this, you'll usually get professional support, without having to worry about expensive service contacts.

Price: from $20/month per user

Where: Research In Motion Blackberry hosting partners

Hosted Exchange / ActiveSync mobile email



As a small business owner, you may not have the need (or budget) to invest in an expensive email solution for your office. If your email system is working with fewer than 20 people, it makes sense to look into a third-party email service. These services handle all your email, and allow you to connect using Microsoft Exchange or Entourage (on the Mac).

Having your email hosted elsewhere has the added advantage that you can connect to the service using your Windows mobile device. A hosted Exchange/ActiveSync service offers 24/7 push email, and the technology often means you'll receive email so fast, that it'll arrive on your Windows mobile-based smartphone before it even arrives on your desktop computer.

Hosted email services do more than just email -- they also offer wireless synchronization of your contacts and calendar. If you use a shared calendar within your office, appointments added to your schedule, will instantly appear on your computer and smartphone.

Where: Various providers (e.g. Mailstreet.net)

Price: From $10/month per user

Message Alerts for Blackberry



The Blackberry is still the undefeated champion of mobile email, but if your device is buzzing all day long with important (and unimportant) emails, you may want to take a look at Message Alerts from Blackberry developer Web Messenger.

Message Alerts adds a very powerful filtering system to your device. Filters can be created based on the subject, sender, CC's, message body and the recipient. Messages can be filtered to be deleted, forwarded to a different address or to set off a loud alarm on your device. If you regularly receive spam on your device, you can even create filters to ignore those messages. Where: Message Alerts for Blackberry

Price: $24.95

HP Mini-Note with Verizon broadband



If a PDA or smartphone is just too small for you to efficiently run your small business on the road, consider investing in a Netbook. This new generation ultra-portable laptop usually weighs in just under 3 pounds, and offers surprisingly decent performance for such a small machine.

Normally, a business- capable Netbook will cost about $500, but Verizon Wireless recently started selling the HP Mini 1115NR Netbook with integrated broadband service, for just $199. Of course, this low price means you'll need to commit to a two year agreement, but if you were thinking of investing in mobile broadband anyway, this deal is fantastic.

Verizon wireless broadband service starts at $39.99/month for 250MB of data transfers, or $59.99/month for 5GB of data.

The HP Mini 1115NR features a 1.6GHz processor, a 10.1" display, 1GB of memory and an 80GB hard drive. The machine runs Windows XP, so you'll be able to run most of your current business applications.

Price: $199 + broadband service ($39.99 for 250MB / 59.99 for 5GB)

Where: www.verizonwireless.com

FlexMail



Regular Windows Mobile smartphone users will be painfully aware that the included email program is quite limited. It handles most basic features quite well, but lacks many advanced features you might need to help streamline your small business emails.

A very simple, yet affordable solution is FlexMail by WebIs. FlexMail installs seamlessly on your device, which means you won't have to re-enter all your email settings, and none of the email currently on your device will be lost.

Once installed, you'll have access to HTML enabled email, folder support, email filters and more.

Price: $29.95

Where: FlexMail