Wireless email services will grow exponentially over the next three years, according to analyst predictions.

At present there are fewer than 20 million business users of mobile email around the world. But the figure will rise to more than 350 million by 2010 as the availability of services and mobile devices increasers, says a Gartner report published today.

The increase will mean that 20 per cent of all email accounts will be wireless-enabled, a major rise from the two per cent currently accessible on the move.

Gartner's predictions ascribe an increasingly central role for mobile technology.

By 2010, 50 per cent of large companies will have a single IT team responsible for all mobile devices – from laptops to smartphones and PDAs. And the number of mobile handsets shipped per year will exceed 1.4 billion, says the report.

'Organisations need to stop treating mobility projects as a one-off exercise,' said Gartner research vice president Leif-Olof Wallin.

'There are no technological panaceas - successfully implementing enterprise mobility requires a balance among technology, applications, people and policies,' he said.