Return Path’s new study which assessed six months of data from over 90 different email marketing clients across 130 million data points, reveals that views on mobile devices have jumped by 81% over the past six months.

The number of views on a mobile device now stands at around 16%, up from around 9% since October 2010. The increase came at the expense of webmail which fell from about 53% down to 48%, while viewing of email on desktop clients remained somewhat consistent at around 36%. Microsoft Outlook continues to dominate with 63% of views on all desktop clients.

The report also reveals that the iPad viewership has grown by 15% between October 2010 and March 2011. The report suggests marketers need to think about how the tablet market is changing the way emails and content is consumed but more research in this area is required.

“What marketers need tothink about is how the tablet market will change where and when consumers access email and online content. iPads go where laptop don’t, but they aren’t as mobile as a phone. Research into this area is needed and the answers will likely evolve as consumers’ use of these devices becomes more common and more sophisticated.” ReturnPath report, 2011.

You can download the full report here.