New research shows dramatic changes in where people access email. Between December 2010 and December 2011, according to BI Intelligence, web-based email dropped more than 30% for people between 12 and 24 years old. Email is moving to mobile devices-phones and tablets.

As you can see from the chart, results are mixed for older generations. This is one reason that I wouldn't get too excited about the so-called "death of email." Email is still highly pervasive in business, where we see people between 45 and 54 years old and about a 15% increase in web-based email. Also, people are still using email; they're just accessing it differently. Another study, by Radicati, indicates that 85% of business people access email on a mobile device. Whether people use both a browser and a phone is unclear from these numbers. 

Yet the numbers likely predict a future increase in mobile email-no surprise to any of us, really.

This move has significant implications for how we write and respond to email messages. The lines between email and texting may continue to fade, and maybe we'll finally delete mobile-device tags, such as "Sent from my iPhone."

Discussion Starters:

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of using email on a browser and a mobile device?
• What are your thoughts about the tag "Sent from my [mobile device]"? Does it explain short messages or excuse lack of attention to detail?