Microsoft Corp. will give its 20 million email users in Europe access to messages via their mobile phones, the company said on Thursday in unveiling a new alliance with European mobile operators.
This is the first time Microsoft has made Hotmail accessible via mobile phones, the company said.
"Maybe, with Microsoft coming to the table, it will make more user friendly,'' Lonergan said. "I think delivering e-mail via the SMS channel is a clever way forward, but I think GPRS will take most of the traffic in the future.''
"...With this alliance we are extending our capability to offer mobile carriers an immediate opportunity to generate revenue based on two-way SMS by providing their consumers with access to MSN Hotmail,'' Judy Gibbons, vice president of MSN Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in a statement.

The first trials will be with Sunrise, a Swiss mobile service owned by TDC, and TDC Mobile in Denmark, Microsoft said. Microsoft could not immediately say when the start date for the trials would be.