Easier e-mail on your cell phone

I know as well as anyone how personal technology can morph into small-business tech at a moment's notice. Which is why I read with interest today's story about Cingular's deal to put AOL, Yahoo, and MSN e-mail on regular cell phones.

I'm happy enough with my BlackBerry, and I did OK with a Treo 600 (when it wasn't crashing), but I always found it frustrating to try to access e-mail through my plain old cell phone. Now Cingular says it's going to get e-mail onto popular Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and other phone models. Looks like there might be a per-message charge for some packages, perhaps similar to T-Mobile's or Virgin Wireless's cents-per-IM charges now. Spokesperson Beverly Wilks of Oz Communications, which is providing the application that helps Cingular provide the service, said it's available as of today.