The evolution of email- A smarter, sleeker and (Gasp!) sentient inbox?

February 1 2011, 6:34pm

Most companies have an R&D department. At OtherInbox (OIB) we are in constant R&D mode. Ideas hit the whiteboard fast and they’ll hit the servers pretty regularly after that. We’ve deployed new features to Organizer regularly since I’ve been here and I am in constant awe of the way our development team makes a good product better and better all the time.This week, our CEO and founder Joshua Baer is attending and speaking at the Email Evolution Conference (EEC) in Miami and was in this great article from marketing magazine BtoB about the evolution of a more interactive inbox.The article explores pushing the capabilities of our email inbox, making a once static medium more and more like a website itself. Rich content and media are not to be kept at bay by a user action anymore; That’s right, the “click” may be going away.“There had been no real innovation in email technology since at least 1998,” said Aaron Smith, VP at Responsys. “But today we’re seeing platforms experimenting with enhanced capabilities that make email more attractive and accessible.” Yep, email itself is turning into a platform all its own. AOL’s new Project Phoenix, Yahoo! Mail with their active mail and Gmail with their Google labs are changing the way we interact with email. New technologies like HTML5 (makes auto-play video in the email client a reality), geo-location, social media integration and smart apps like our own product Organizer means we are all constantly pushing that digital envelop to make email smarter, more intuitive and, well, just more awesome overall.

Like I said, ideas hit the whiteboard fast here at OIB and some of the features mentioned in the article have been up there in blue and black, waiting for their turn at your inbox through Organizer. For example, the article talks about expiring emails. That’s on the OIB whiteboard. A time sensitive message or offer should self-delete when the offer is expired or no longer relevant, right? And the Daily Digest should be able to help you keep track of it all! Cool huh?So it’s no wonder Joshua is at ECC in Miami with other direct marketing trendsetters this week discussing the evolution of email. He knows email, period. Seriously, sitting in strategy meetings and business development calls with him requires a quick pen for notes and action items. He keeps us moving quickly to build the best product we possibly can and often times the office feels like Frankenstein’s laboratory as we coax new code into doing that cool new thing we want it to do!In the BtoB article, Joshua says, “The real value of these new features is getting people to interact with email as if they’re directly on a Web page.” And he should know, because here at OtherInbox he is leading us in that direction all the time, piece by piece, building the next big thing in email! What else should your email do? Tell us below, ping us on Facebook, tweet about it on Twitter or send us an old fashioned email at help@otherinbox.com.