Excite@Home inks wireless agreement

Excite@Home today announced an agreement to use AirFlash wireless technology, in an effort to attract wireless users to Excite's Web content.

The partnership will allow mobile device users to view personalized Excite content, such as stock quotes or news headlines; use Excite Web applications, such as an interactive calendar; send email; and conduct e-commerce transactions, such as booking reservations or ordering merchandise, an Excite@Home representative said yesterday.

The announcement continues the company's initiative to lure people who use non-PC devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, and pagers. America Online has a similar initiative, dubbed "AOL Anywhere," for users to access their AOL accounts via multiple devices, and portal rival Yahoo made its own move when it acquired Online Anywhere for $80 million in stock.

The flurry underscores a belief among Web companies that future Internet access will extend beyond PCs.

"Mobile applications are key to delivering on the 'All Device' part of our vision, 'All Band, All Device, All the Time,' and these steps continue our focus on providing our customers with the best personalized content wherever they are, by whatever means they choose," Joe Kraus, Excite@Home senior vice president of content, said today in a statement.

Excite ranks as the sixth-most-visited site on the Web, according to online audience measurement firm Media Metrix. The company, once considered Yahoo's closest rival, was acquired by cable access provider @Home for $7.2 billion in May of this year.