Mobile network operator 3 Group said it will offer Microsoft’s MSN messenger and Hotmail e-mail to its customers.
Microsoft and Hutchison 3G have recently announced a deal that will make it easier for 3G users to access MSN Messenger and Hotmail on the move. The mobile telco will make both services available on its portal. MSN Messenger clients will also come pre-installed on 3G mobile phones from 3.
According to a press release from 3 Group, a division of Hutchison Whampoa’s division, these services will provide millions of customers with different ways to say in touch using their 3G mobile phone.
Three said customers will be able to log into the MSN branded services using their existing MSN accounts and would be able to get presence information, exchange instant messages and e-mails between both a computer and other 3 mobile users.
The Hutchison Whampoa division said the services would be launched in a number of European countries, Hong Kong and Australia and be available in the second half of the year.
As part of the global agreement, the MSN services on offer via mobiles from 3 will retain a similar look and feel to those offered on a PC. For example, 3 customers will be able to use their existing MSN user name and password on their mobile. While accessing Hotmail from a 3 mobile, users will be able to perform normal email functions such as reading, sending and deleting emails as well as getting easy views of their inbox. 3 subscribers will also be able to see "presence" of Messenger contacts and exchange messages using their handset.
The services will provide customers with a convenient way to stay in-touch on the move using an experience with which they are already accustomed.
The move comes on the back of similar deals by Sony Ericsson and Vodafone who has recently signed tie-ups with search giant Google as mobile operators search for a way to tempt customers to spend more time and therefore money, on their phones.
By connecting MSN and 3 customers, both companies expect more frequent interaction connecting mobile-to-mobile, PC-to-mobile customers.
The agreement brings together a community of millions of MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger users and customers of the 3 Group worldwide. MSN Hotmail is one of the world’s largest web-based e-mail services, with 230 million active e-mail accounts and MSN Messenger, the world’s most used free instant messaging service, has 205 million customers worldwide.
Initially, the services will be available to the 5 million customers of 3 Group in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Australia (via ninemsn). 3 Group plans to expand the service to 7m subscribers in other 3 markets over an unspecified time frame.
Christian Salbaing, managing director at Hutchison Europe Telecommunications, said, "3 Group is committed to providing its customers with the widest choice of communications access platforms. We believe our 12 million 3G customers will be delighted to be able to sue MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger on our 3G networks."
He said, "Communications environments and platforms are converging and it is our job to give our customers more choices to communicate to connect instantly to the people they care about most."
A spokesperson for Three UK said pricing of the new service in Britain was planned to be on a set monthly subscription basis as opposed to the commonly-used mobile commercial model of "calling party pays.” They said they would also offer a per message fee for less frequent users.
Later this year, 3 plans to offer access to Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail, the next versions of MSN Messenger and Hotmail respectively.