TELECOMS & MOBILE
Three to offer MSN services to customers
20-03-2006
by Ciara O'Brien
Mobile operator Three has signed a deal with Microsoft that will make its Hotmail and MSN Messenger applications available to Three customers.
Mobile customers in Ireland will be able to keep in contact through their handsets with Microsoft's instant messenger service and Hotmail e-mail service, available through the operator's 3G service.
The deal has just been signed, so it will be a little while before users start to see the services on their handsets. However, once they do, they will be able to stay online with their Messenger contacts even when they are on move, the companies say.
Users of the service won't need to get used to a different interface, with the MSN services retaining their familiar look and feel in the mobile interface.
Three is also planning to offer access to the new Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail services later this year.
"This is an exciting time for Microsoft and Hutchison. Together we are offering, for the first time, mobile software clients on a broad range of handsets to a vast customer base in Europe," said Geoff Sutton, regional general manager for MSN EMEA, in a statement. "By way of this agreement, we are expanding our customers' ability to make smart communication choices to connect instantly to the people they care about most."
This is good news for MSN users, but still leaves users of other messaging services out in the cold. However, there could be further deals on the cards in the future, Graeme Slattery, Three Ireland, told ElectricNews.Net. Slattery added that these deals are done on a global basis, rather than by region. "We'll certainly be looking at it," he said.
In the meantime, Slattery said that Three Ireland customers would be able to access the new MSN services when they are rolled out to handsets.
According to Microsoft, MSN Hotmail has 230 million active e-mail accounts, while MSN Messenger has more than 205 million users worldwide.
This is not the first mobile deal that search giants have signed in recent times; Google signed an agreement with Motorola that allowed the mobile handset manufacturer to give its users access to mobile search services through a single icon. More recently the search giant signed up with Sony Ericsson and Vodafone.
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