Microsoft, Partners Push Email

BARCELONA, Spain -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) partners Dangaard Telecom, Carphone Warehouse Group PLC and Nordic retailer ONOFF today announced their move into the "push" e-mail market for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and "pro-sumers" (early-adopter consumers). Using the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC), these partners will deliver mobile e-mail, packaged with a mobile device, to tap into the increasing demand for business e-mail on the go. For the mobile industry -- from traditional to nontraditional mobile service providers and including operators, retailers and distributors -- the HMC platform represents a significant opportunity to bring value-added services to market and generate new revenue. The announcement was made at 3GSM World Congress 2007 in Barcelona, Spain.

"The demand for mobile data services from small businesses is still relatively untapped, and we're seeing the emergence of innovative new business models, based on our Hosted Messaging and Collaboration solution, to take advantage of this," said Michael O'Hara, general manager for the Communications Sector at Microsoft. "Mobile phone retailers and distributors are constantly looking at ways to strengthen their established business models, and this provides them with an easy way to offer additional packaged services to their subscribers."

Dangaard Telecom's Value-Added Services Available Through Partners Across EMEA

Dangaard Telecom, Europe's largest value-added distributor, has announced a push e-mail service based on HMC, targeted indirectly at small businesses and early-adopter consumers. The package, consisting of a Windows Mobile®- based device with a Microsoft Office Outlook® e-mail account, is available through strategic channel partners to customers in Norway and France.

"By enabling our partners to offer mobile e-mail we are setting ourselves apart as a fully fledged go-to-market distributor for retailers, operators, systems integrators, value-added resellers and original equipment manufacturers who can leverage our international footprint and local market knowledge," said Frank Jensen, head of Corporate Smart Phones at Dangaard Telecom.Microsoft Corp.