I have been using push Email on my cell phone for almost a year now. And I no longer need the "push" part any more.
Push email is like the normal email that half of the world is using nowadays. The "push" part is having the email server deliver an email instantly without waiting for the email client to poll it every now and then. At first I thought this could be a good idea. I don't have to worry when there is any new email for me, and I don't waste any bandwidth usage on polls with empty return. But soon I found out push email is not as useful as it suggests.
First of all, I have quite a few emails with different urgency levels everyday. When emails arrive in my mail box, the email server has no way to tell one from the other. Therefore, my cell phone kept reminding me of new emails and I had to pull it out to see the cry wolf. The importance setting on each email does not make the prioritization of delivery better since my perception of importance matters also, not just the sender's. Secondly, there are a lot of times, I just cannot respond to an arriving email ASAP. I may be in a meeting, or talking to my boss or my significant other. I don't want to be distracted or deemed as such. Last but not least, the emails heading my way come from several places in the world. It is not just 9 to 5 as peak hour to turn the push email on. In the end, I just turn the push off and switch to polling every half an hour. In the evening, I poll email manually only when I have time, or just turn on the laptop and forget about my cell phone.
Very soon, the justification of saving bandwidth will be gone as most of the flat-fee data connection services are good enough for normal email and occasional web browsing. Email software and service vendors need to have this feature on the check list to stay relevant in the competition. I can imagine certain email users that need the "push" function because of their professions. However, I wonder what the proportion is to the general email users and whether the simple transport-based push mechanism serves those users right. Given the abusive usage of email today, I would much more like to see a "push-away" email than the pushy ones.
Push email is like the normal email that half of the world is using nowadays. The "push" part is having the email server deliver an email instantly without waiting for the email client to poll it every now and then. At first I thought this could be a good idea. I don't have to worry when there is any new email for me, and I don't waste any bandwidth usage on polls with empty return. But soon I found out push email is not as useful as it suggests.
First of all, I have quite a few emails with different urgency levels everyday. When emails arrive in my mail box, the email server has no way to tell one from the other. Therefore, my cell phone kept reminding me of new emails and I had to pull it out to see the cry wolf. The importance setting on each email does not make the prioritization of delivery better since my perception of importance matters also, not just the sender's. Secondly, there are a lot of times, I just cannot respond to an arriving email ASAP. I may be in a meeting, or talking to my boss or my significant other. I don't want to be distracted or deemed as such. Last but not least, the emails heading my way come from several places in the world. It is not just 9 to 5 as peak hour to turn the push email on. In the end, I just turn the push off and switch to polling every half an hour. In the evening, I poll email manually only when I have time, or just turn on the laptop and forget about my cell phone.
Very soon, the justification of saving bandwidth will be gone as most of the flat-fee data connection services are good enough for normal email and occasional web browsing. Email software and service vendors need to have this feature on the check list to stay relevant in the competition. I can imagine certain email users that need the "push" function because of their professions. However, I wonder what the proportion is to the general email users and whether the simple transport-based push mechanism serves those users right. Given the abusive usage of email today, I would much more like to see a "push-away" email than the pushy ones.
