REDMOND, Wash., and HONG KONG - The MSN® network of Internet services, the world's most popular destination on the Web, and Mobileway Inc., a leader in managing and monetizing mobile transactions across the globe, today announced a major pan-Asian strategic mobile services alliance. As a result, MSN and Mobileway together will deliver the capability for mobile carriers in Asia to offer MSN Hotmail® Web-based e-mail service via two-way short message service (SMS) beginning this summer. The agreement, which follows successful carrier trials of the MSN Hotmail SMS service in both Chinese and English in the region, will also extend to offer MSN Messenger Service via SMS to consumers in the fall.


With this service, MSN Hotmail users on the go will have the option to receive e-mail sent by SMS to their MSN Hotmail accounts on their mobile phones. They will be able to reply to those e-mail messages directly to the sender's inbox via SMS and perform other common tasks directly from their phone. MSN Hotmail is the world's most popular free Web-based e-mail service* and has more than 110 million users worldwide, including 15 million in Asia.


"MSN and Mobileway are bridging two popular and widely used communication tools - the mobile phone and MSN Hotmail - to enable consumers on the go in Asia to keep in touch with those most important to them," said Rajesh Sambwani, regional business development director for MSN Asia at Microsoft. "We are also pleased to work with Mobileway to empower mobile operators in the region with new sources of revenue and the ability to deliver useful and compelling mobile services from MSN to their subscribers."


The MSN and Mobileway-enabled service is similar to MSN offerings in several European markets that have already yielded significant increases in SMS usage. The service will be the first to enable operators in Asia to provide the MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger SMS service to their subscribers. The service utilizes Mobileway's Message Tracker service, which uses XML Web Services and Microsoft® .NET to uniquely provide the ability to adapt to the complex nature of the Asian mobile communications market, where the SMS infrastructure requirements, billing arrangements and other SMS features vary from operator to operator.
"Mobileway is delighted to team up with MSN on this unique pan-Asian service that will provide an efficient way for MSN Hotmail users in Asia to access their data via their mobile devices," said Patrice Peyret, CEO of Mobileway. "By combining Mobileway's proven infrastructure and established operator relationships in Asia with the reach of MSN throughout the region, together we can deliver truly useful mobile services to consumers in Asia."

The alliance with Mobileway, which has direct connections to 88 mobile carriers worldwide, is another key milestone in the MSN global strategy to provide mobile consumers with useful and relevant services, such as MSN Hotmail, and relevant integrated MSN features through a reliable link to the wireless Web. The alliance announcement follows the recent release of the latest version of the MSN Mobile platform, which delivers customizable communications services to interactive pagers, mobile phones and handheld devices.

About Mobileway
Mobileway is the leader in managing and monetizing mobile transactions across the globe. With direct connections to 88 mobile carriers, Mobileway has unrivalled reach to
90 percent of mobile users throughout the world, guaranteeing cost-effective, secure deployment of mobile applications to professional and personal mobile users.
By expanding the reach of lifestyle services such as instant messaging, infotainment, mobile marketing, m-commerce and enterprise applications, Mobileway increases the value of mobile data for operators, content providers and corporations alike.
Incorporated in Delaware, USA, Mobileway has offices located throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. Additional news and information about the company is available at http://www.mobileway.com/.

About MSN
MSN attracts more than 270 million unique users worldwide per month. Globally available in 34 markets and 18 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to businesses worldwide. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/. MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -
any time, any place and on any device.