Get a revamped Gmail for your PDAs

Google on Thursday released an enhanced version of Gmail for Mobile Devices, a free Java-based application that allows users to access their Gmail via a cell phone. The interface looks and feels like Web-based Gmail, but with features that are optimized for handheld devices. "We realize the role mobile phones play as a key driver for balancing online and offline worlds," said Deep Nishar, director of product management at Google. The Gmail for Mobile service will "help people stay connected when they're away from their computers," he added.

As with the Web-based Gmail, Gmail for Mobile Devices offers search, conversation view, and automatic synchronization with the desktop version.

Google claims that Gmail for Mobile Devices offers improved access times (reportedly up to five times faster) and ease-of-use due to technology that automatically pre-fetches e-mail messages. The company has promised other improvements, such as reduced clicks and scrolling to access e-mail; fewer keystrokes for reading, composing, or searching mail; and support for attachments, including files and photos that can be automatically resized to fit the desktop on the user's phone.

In the enterprise mobile e-mail market, Blackberry-maker Research In Motion continues to lead, but others are encroaching. Nokia and Microsoft doubled their market shares in 2006, according to Strategy Analytics. The research firm expects Nokia and Microsoft's combined 15 percent market share to at least double in the next 12 to 18 months.

Google is up against the market behemoth and traditionally Web-based e-mail players, such as Yahoo and Microsoft, for mobile market share. Google's challenge is to get users to switch to Gmail. Switching costs are high, however, and tasks such as updating contact lists with a new e-mail address can be tedious ones for users.