New data from financial email specialist ProFundCom suggests that people using email to communicate with the financial community must take mobile devices more seriously than at present.

The number of mails opened on mobile devices has risen from 9.2 per cent in 2011 to 13.9 per cent in 2012 – a 50 per cent rise in just a year, the firm said in a statement.

The wealth management industry has been one of the businesses affected by the proliferation of mobile apps and associated technologies; this very website’s daily emails are sent to tens of thousands of subscribers who can read stories on the go via handheld devices.

Among mobile devices the most notable increase was with the iPad (up from 38.2 per cent to 42.4 per cent). iPhone usage actually fell (from 57.3 per cent to 53.6 per cent) with small drops in Blackberry and Nokia S60 devices, while Android showed a small rise (from 2.24 to 2.6 per cent), the data showed.