Some firms believe in simplifying technology so that it reaches the masses. netCORE's Emergic Email2SMS is also a service that aims to bring a lot of convenience to mobile users. We find out how.

Imagine being nowhere near your laptop, PC, or even a Blackberry and still having access to e-mails. netCORE has just facilitated this. The company recognised the need of most mobile phone users to access e-mails while travelling, without being restricted by high-end services (GPRS, WAP) the phone may not be equipped to handle. netCORE has made this possible by simplifying the technology and making it available to the masses through its Emergic Email2SMS service.

Emergic Email2SMS

netCORE has recently launched this service through which entry-level mobile phone users without GPRS can access their e-mails via SMS (short message service). One can receive up to 480 characters of e-mail at a time, which is three times the size of normal SMS (160 characters). The users can go to the settings of personal or office e-mail accounts and auto-forward mails by entering their mobile numbers ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Thereafter, they will receive a confirmation mail from netCORE and will be asked to send an SMS-- 'mail start city' to 575758. This will allow them to receive every e-mail that enters their mailbox as an SMS. This service is the only one of its kind in India and the company reports that it has no other competitors in this space. Outside India though, there is a similar service called Teleflip, available in the USA and Canada.

Emergic Email2SMS has many advantages over Teleflip. Email2SMS provides the options of forwarding and composing new mail whereas Teleflip doesn't. The character-limitation of SMS sent by Teleflip is only 120 characters per SMS. Also, Teleflip does not offer the feature of opening attachments. Email2SMS allows users to open attachments using GPRS. However, Teleflip offers services free of cost.

How does it work?

netCORE has developed an open source software that converts an e-mail message to SMS. Once users opt for the 'auto-forward' setting, the mails in their inbox are directed to the M3M servers (at netCORE), the software picks these mails from the server, converts them into text messages and sends them to the mobile number specified by the users. Several text messages are despatched where the e-mail is too long to be rendered in a single SMS.

The procedure for sending mails is similar. Options in the SMS sent by the server and received by the user include to 'reply', to 'reply all', etc. Once again, if the text is too long, it is sent to the server in parts before it is delivered to the recipient in one go. If the users wish, they may specify a time period during which no SMSs are to be delivered to their mobile phone. netCORE offers three usage plans.

The Email2SMS service can be worked with any e-mail account that has a forwarding option. As Yahoo and Rediffmail do not support this option, the service cannot extend to these accounts.

It's different!

What stands out in this service is that it does not require a mobile to be GPRS-enabled. Moreover, the facility to receive only desired mails makes it versatile. There are other options too -- one can set the privacy options to "Do not disturb", and one can block e-mails.

"{quotes align=right}The aim of this service is basically to keep the users in touch with their important e-mails, which are vital to their day-to-day work.{/quotes} The response to this product has been tremendous, and it's purely through viral marketing. We have only recently launched the product, yet we have a decent number of users," quips Rajesh Jain, MD, netCORE Solutions.

The target audience includes people who travel frequently and require to access critical e-mail but who would not wish to invest in expensive, high-end handsets. It is also ideal for enterprises that want their employees to track office e-mails on their existing mobiles.