Internet directory provider LookSmart International, Ltd. today said it will offer users free e-mail accounts at its search site through an alliance with messaging provider CommTouch.
LookSmart joins the growing number of sites offering free Web-based e-mail services as a way of attracting new users and ensuring that existing users keep coming back.
Those signing up for individual e-mail accounts via LookSmart will get a personal e-mail address that reads “username@looksmart.com,” and can access their accounts via a Web browser on any machine hooked up to the Net.
Leading “portal” players such as Excite, Yahoo!, Netscape Netcenter, and Snap! all provide similar e-mail offerings to their visitors.
CommTouch, LookSmart’s partner in the new venture, also made news recently when Business Week chose the company to power its free e-mail offering.
LookSmart’s navigator system searches 380,000 listings of sites segmented into 20,000 divisions. The up-and-coming portal also features news, chat, and other offerings. Partners include Digital’s AltaVista, @Home, CompuServe, Netscape, Microsoft, Bigfoot, Desktop News, HotBot and more than 85 ISPs.
On May 21, 1998, Netscape announced it signed LookSmart as a “premier partner” to bolster its Netcenter site.