Push Email For All - Eventually

Blue Whale Systems has announced the launch of BlueWhaleMail, a free, ad-supported push email and push-Facebook service for what the company describes as: “the 2.7 billion people with ordinary mobile phones”. Initially, however, the solution is available just for Nokia Series 60 and SonyEricsson feature phones.
Blue Whale Systems Founder Michael Maguire previously worked in the BlackBerry Applications team at Research In Motion. He says:
“My team and I think there are some great dedicated mobile email devices out there…“Unfortunately, the rest of the world’s 1.1 billion email users have phones with unusable, hard to configure in-built email that few people can be bothered to set-up. With BlueWhaleMail, we’ve gone back to the drawing board so that people can keep the phone they like and still stay in touch on the go.”
BlueWhaleMail supports the majority of email platforms, but the company points out that users cannot directly access Hotmail. This, it says, is down to the fact that “Microsoft does not yet freely support the required industry standards of either IMAP4 or POP3.”
In addition to its email capabilities, BlueWhaleMail also notifies users of their friends’ status updates and news items on Facebook, and allows them to send a message or write on their wall in response. Messages and notifications are displayed as soon as they are received, without requiring users to manually connect to their inbox. Revenues come from banner ads at the top of the BlueWhaleMail message viewer.
“We’re trying to make social networking - messaging, news feeds and status updates - as much a part of mobile life as text messaging,” says Blue Whale Systems CEO, Richard Seward. “People who are unwilling to pay for or use a dedicated mobile email device still deserve a great mobile email service and that’s exactly what BlueWhaleMail offers. Our service is the simplest choice for those wishing to stay on top of their social life while they’re away from their computer.”
BlueWhaleMail can be test-driven and pre-configured for download here. The company says that most people will only need to know their email address and password. Alternatively, you can browse to m.bluewhale.net on your mobile.