"You mean to tell me that you couldn't access Hotmail from your i-Mode phone all this time?"

Believe it or not, no. i-Mode support for Hotmail was limited to MSN 9 subscribers.

Microsoft's MSN web portal announced that they would support NTT DoCoMo's i-Mode for their "MSN Hotmail" webmail service.

Usage of Hotmail from an i-Mode terminal, up until now, had been offered to members of the fee-based "MSN 9 Premium" service. MSN will now instead offer this same service to all Hotmail users, and offer the service free of charge.

The service can be accessed by choosing "Hotmail" from the menu that appears when navigating to http://msn.co.jp from an i-Mode phone, upon which time users may enter their Hotmail account name and password to sign in. The newest 5 emails are display o­n the Hotmail top page, and the service supports reading these mails by clicking o­n the subject, as well as sending new email. Entries to the address book that have been entered into hotmail are also usable, and users can also call the phone numbers they have listed for address book contacts.

Also, by getting a "Microsoft .Net Passport" ID and password using i-Mode, users can acquire and use a Hotmail account without the use of a PC. However, not supported in the cell-phone version of the service is profile editing, spam settings, and the sending of mail using HTML.

Finally, MSN also plans to offer Hotmail services for EZweb and Vodafone Live! users.



Inspired by:
http://internet.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/2004/12/09/5725.html

Press Release:
http://www.microsoft.com/japan/presspass/detail.aspx?newsid=2143