Microsoft on Thursday signed deals with two Indian cell phone companies to deliver e-mail and instant messages via SMS.
BPL Mobile, owned by Indian electronics maker BPL, offers cell phone services in five Southern and Western Indian states, and has around 2.4 million subscribers. Airtel, which has a presence in 20 Indian states, has around 9.5 million subscribers.
The companies, together with mobile data services firm Mobile 365, on Thursday launched two new services-?Mobile-mail and MSN Messenger over SMS. However, they did not say whether the service will carry a fee or be offered for free.
Using Mobile-mail, Hotmail users among BPL subscribers will have the option to receive and reply to e-mail sent to their accounts by SMS on their mobile phones.
Similarly, the MSN Messenger over SMS service is a two-way text messaging system that lets users communicate with MSN Messenger buddies via a mobile phone that supports the SMS (short message service) technology.
MSN is not the first to launch such an initiative in India. Yahoo already has similar arrangements with cell phone companies serving India, including Orange, Hutch and Airtel.
Join the conversation
Comment replyThe posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. Click here to review our Terms of Use.
The two telecom carriers will carry a next-generation iPad running on the fast, next-generation wireless technology, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.
Google creates an animated doodle that features a boy, a girl, Google's search engine, and a jump rope. But might there be darker, more analytical, more troubling interpretations to this tale?
Hamza Kashgari's tweets of an imaginary conversation with the Prophet Mohammad are viewed as blasphemous by the Saudi Arabian government. Now he faces trial with a possible death sentence.
The Silicon Valley online payments startup grew by 1,000 percent last year and is hopeful it can repeat that level of growth this year. To do that, it's had to move away from its early friends-and-family roots and embrace small businesses.
Chamtech's spray-on antenna uses a nano material to provide a low-power boost to antenna range. The wireless-in-a-can product may some day bring an end to unsightly cell towers.
EnerG2 opens a plant to make an engineered carbon that will improve performance of energy storage devices and make storage for start-stop hybrid cars less expensive.
Join the conversation