In work reminiscent of their original ReMail work, but targeted at mobile email, IBM is rethinking mobile email. Their focus is on fast email triage on mobile devices, including how to capture intended actions, such as those that might be actioned on the desktop at a later time (rather than on the mobile device).

While it’s widely acknowledged that desktop email clients have been slow to adapt to changing volumes and styles of email use, the problem is arguably more acute in the mobile space. For starters, obviously the device form factors influence how people use mobile email – you’re not likely to see people typing long-winded messages with their thumbs – yet many mobile email clients are essentially designed as smaller versions of desktop email clients. Mobile email users typically focus on triaging their messages to determine what’s new, what they can delete right away, and what’s important enough to handle immediately. They often defer everything else until they are at a desktop or laptop with a full keyboard and larger display.

I think it’s worth spending 7 minutes or so to watch the video below, where Jeff Pierce outlines the project:

There’s more information, including a short paper, also available at the Triage and Capture: Rethinking Mobile Email website.