Mobile email provider Visto will power wireless carrier Vodafone Germany's new mobile email offering, Vodafone E-MailConnect.

The new service is geared towards Vodafone Germany's consumer, prosumer and small business markets in Germany. Vodafone Germany selected the Visto Mobile platform to improve the mobile email experience for its customers.

"The strategy here is to provide a service that appeals to a broad mobile audience," said Doug Brackbill, chief marketing officer of Visto, Redwood City, CA. "We've made it very easy to set up and can even host ISP email like Yahoo and Hotmail.

"The service is geared towards both the general population and towards business people," he said. "It's very convenient for personal use."

Vodafone Germany is one of the leading carriers in Europe, serving more than 34 million mobile customers. The company is offering the Vodafone E-MailConnect service on a range of business devices and consumer-oriented handsets.

Visto offers a platform for carriers to provide mobile email across many devices. With Visto's Easy Setup feature, customers can mobilize their corporate and personal email within three clicks from a Visto Smart Icon installed on their handset, the company claims.

Vodafone E-MailConnect powered by Visto Mobile is available on devices based on the Symbian, Palm, Java and Microsoft Windows Mobile operating systems.

"Since we support portal email it covers wherever people have stuff," Mr. Brackbill said. "People are very mobile these days and this is a way to take email with them wherever they go.

"I think giving Vodafone a solution to work for everyone and making it easy to use solves a lot of challenges for Vodafone," he said. "There are no customer service calls asking questions on how to set it up."