MSN was the first of the major Internet portal sites to provide wireless information services, starting in June 1999. MSN Mobile 4.0 provides not only notifications but also customizable, interactive access to MSN services, such as MSN Hotmail and the MoneyCentral online personal finance service, for Web-enabled mobile phones and PDA devices. MSN Mobile is highly customizable, allowing consumers to personalize information they receive and when they receive it. Each content topic can be selected based on consumers individual needs or geographic locations. Consumers can be notified when new e-mail arrives in their Hotmail account through customized notification services.
Consumers can choose to be notified by certain criteria, such as subject, sender and e-mail address.
Consumers can receive national, international, political, business, entertainment and technology news using preprogrammed summaries or keyword triggers. Consumers can follow their favorite professional and college sports teams via their wireless device. Between games, they can keep up with news about their teams. Local forecasts can be tracked for most major U.S. and Canadian cities. Users can receive quotes for U.S. and Canadian stocks and stock indexes.