China's mobile service provider China Mobile (CHL) is testing a mobile email service and discussing fees related to this service.
A representative from China Mobile says that the new service called Pushmail may bring higher income for the company than the current SMS service.
According to another representative from Shanghai Mobile who is participating in the testing of this new service, there is basically no question in the technical aspect of Pushmail, only that they are waiting for the pricing policy from the top management of the company before the service can be largely promulgated.
Last week it was announced that Research in Motion (RIMM) is discussing with China Mobile about launching a BlackBerry push email service in the mainland market.
Katie Lee, a spokesperson for RIM, has told Hong Kong media that the company is quite interested in the mainland market and is negotiating and testing the service with China Mobile. However, there is not a definite date for the formal launch of the service.
At present, RIM runs BlackBerry services in several areas of Asia, including Hong Kong.
Blackberry, developed by Canada-based Research In Motion, allows users to stay connected with wireless access to e-mail, corporate data, phone and Web. It is already available in many areas like India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
It is unclear if China Mobile will compete with Blackberry on the same service, or perhaps merge the services later.
