LinkedIn (LNKD.DL) wants to change the way people email on their mobile devices.
In the past four years, the percentage of emails read on mobile has skyrocketed from less than 4% to 50%, according to LinkedIn. Recognizing the ever-growing move toward mobile, the company launched LinkedIn Intro this week in an effort to bring LinkedIn features straight to Apple's iPhone Mail app.
With LinkedIn Intro, users can see LinkedIn profile info about an email sender, including the sender's profile picture, where he's based, and what he does. For example, in the LinkedIn image below, users can see that David Buchanan is the CEO of Crosswise. By tapping on the name bar, users can get more detailed information on David, including past occupations, education, and mutual connections.
Source: LinkedIn Blog.
As part of company's effort to "Reimagine" LinkedIn for mobile, the company says Intro provides users the information they need to put faces to names and write effective emails to build "rapport." The app comes more than a year after LinkedIn acquired email company Rapportive for $15 million. Since then, the startup's co-founder Rahul Vohra has worked with his team to develop LinkedIn Intro.
LinkedIn Intro tops off a slew of new products the company has rolled out this week. In the company's two other efforts to "Reinvent" and "Redefine" itself for mobile, LinkedIn revamped its iPad app and launched a new version of Pulse. Overall, the platform has become important for LinkedIn as it now sees mobile users engage 2.5 times more than desktop users.
Intro is available in English for members worldwide. Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, and iCloud users can access the new feature through their iPhone Mail app today.
