Longtime instant messaging player ICQ is going the portal route with the launch
of two new e-mail services for its 20 million users.
The company has teamed with Mail2World and launched an improved version of
ICQmail, a free e-mail service that
will offer virus scans, spam filtering, instant e-mail translation in up to
seven languages and several other features.
In addition to the ICQmail upgrade, the Israel-based outfit also announced the launch of a new premium
mail service that will offer 2 gigabytes of storage and give users the ability to record and
send video e-mails that can be viewed on Windows-based PCs. The service will
cost $19.99 per year.
“We are extremely pleased to be working with Mail2world to provide our users
with an easy-to-use and reliable Web-based e-mail service, free of charge,”
said Danny Ben Shitrit, vice president for Product Marketing at ICQ, in a news
release. “Mail2World’s solutions have enabled us to offer a highly
customizable user experience.”
The premium service provides Wireless Application Protocol
messages from computers to mobile phones or other wireless devices anywhere
in the world through the Short Message Service (SMS) technology.
It also gives users the ability compress large attachments, schedule
delivery of outgoing mail, create distribution groups and set up
auto-responses.