(BSNS WIRE) Get Your E-Mail Over the Phone With Free myTalk Service from
Get Your E-Mail Over the Phone With Free myTalk Service from General Magic; Use
Your Own Words to Easily Manage E-Mail Tasks
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 1999--General Magic,
Inc. (Nasdaq:GMGC) today introduced myTalk(TM), a free(1) ad-supported
Internet service that lets people use their own spoken words, any
telephone and a toll-free number to manage their e-mail.
More than 90 million U.S. consumers(2) rely on e-mail to
communicate with family, friends and colleagues. Getting to a computer
to access e-mail, however, can be inconvenient at times, especially if
the computer is shared within a household. With myTalk, anyone with a
busy lifestyle -- including college students, time-starved parents and
active older Americans -- has the freedom to keep up with e-mail
messages from any phone. myTalk is the perfect accessory for vacation
travelers, e-mail addicts and wireless phone users, who just need
their own voices to stay in touch with e-mail.
To become a myTalk member, visit the mytalk.com Web
site. The service is free to U.S. residents due to advertising
sponsorship.
"I found myTalk to be very easy and enjoyable to use," said Allan
Hess, an Internet marketing consultant and myTalk beta tester. "It's
so conversational that you almost forget you're talking to a computer.
When I said 'Thank you,' it said 'You're welcome.' When I asked it to
replay an e-mail message, it said 'Sure.' The intelligence of myTalk
is really amazing."
Thanks to General Magic's unique voice-friendly technology, known
as magicTalk(TM), users of myTalk can simply speak to the service to
tell it what to do. The service "talks" to the user in a pleasant,
conversational manner. A member can jump in with a new comment at any
time to request the service to take action. For example, a member can
say, "Read it," "Get rid of it," or "I'd like to reply" to handle
common tasks. Saying "Next" will immediately take the user to the next
e-mail message.
"myTalk is all about convenience," said Steve Markman, chairman,
chief executive officer and president of General Magic. "You can get
your e-mail anywhere you can use a phone -- in the mall, on the
campus, at the highway rest stop, even from your sofa -- and you don't
have to be an Internet expert to do it. From a business perspective,
myTalk represents a significant first step for General Magic in the
consumer space. It is our intent to expand our voice technology to
meet other consumer needs in the future."
How myTalk Works
Using myTalk is simple. New members sign up at the myTalk Web
site, where they choose a username and password and fill out some
basic information. A response to a successful sign-up is immediately
displayed on the Web site, giving the member a toll-free phone number
and a personal extension for added security.
When members are away from their computers, they use the
toll-free number to check e-mail. When they're able to get to a
computer, they can sign in to the myTalk Web site and work with their
e-mail in the typical way by typing on a keyboard. General Magic also
intends to upgrade myTalk later in June so users with e-mail pagers
can receive an alert when e-mail from a specific person or on a
specified topic is received. In the third quarter of this year, the
company plans to expand the alert feature to allow members to receive
a phone call when the specified e-mail is received.
During a phone session, users don't need to remember push-button
commands or listen to a long series of prompts. The service reads just
the subject line of an e-mail message at first, letting the member
decide whether to hear the rest of the message or skip to the next
one.
Replying to an e-mail message over the phone is especially easy.
The myTalk service records the user's words exactly as they are said.
This voice message is then sent to the recipient's e-mail inbox as a
"voice file." The recipient sees a message that he or she has a voice
file from the member, which can be listened to by simply clicking on
the file. An enhancement planned for the third quarter will allow
members to create a new e-mail message by voice, or forward an
existing e-mail to someone's e-mail inbox from over the phone.
The myTalk service also includes an "e-mail collection" feature,
which can benefit members who already have an e-mail account from an
Internet Service Provider (ISP). With collection, the member can
specify up to three ISP e-mail accounts to check during a phone
session. myTalk can collect e-mail messages from AOL, BellSouth.net,
Earthlink, IBM Global Network, Mindspring, Prodigy and more than a
dozen others listed on the myTalk e-mail setup Web page.
"General Magic's easy-to-use voice technology clearly has the
potential to make Internet-based services like e-mail more useful to
people in their daily lives," said Mark Lowenstein, senior vice
president at The Yankee Group, a leading market research firm. "myTalk
should appeal to consumers who want a simpler way to work with e-mail,
to people without easy access to the Internet who can use the phone as
an alternative, and to serious users who will enjoy the convenience of
the e-mail collection feature."
General Magic has developed a signup profile that lets members
select five or more topics in which they have interest so that over
time, advertisements can be tailored to the user's preferences.
Members will hear audio ads during their phone sessions and see Web
banner ads when they are using the myTalk Web site to check e-mail.
Companies interested in advertising on myTalk can send an e-mail to
bizdev@generalmagic.com.
About General Magic
General Magic offers voice-enabled services and technology that
make communication and access to information easy and convenient. The
company's innovative, patent-pending magicTalk voice interface lets
people interact with information using their own words, as if they
were talking to another person. For more information about General
Magic, visit the company's Web site at generalmagic.com
General Magic notes that this press release contains
forward-looking statements. There are risks and uncertainties that may
cause actual results to vary materially. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, the challenges inherent in the
development and delivery of complex technologies, including the
capability for the Network Operations Center to handle potential
increases in demand; the market acceptance of the company's services
and technologies; the ability of the company's third-party technology
partners to timely develop, license or support technology necessary
for the company's services; adequacy of the company's financial
resources to execute its business plan; the company's ability to
respond to competitive developments; and the company's reliance on
attracting, retaining and motivating key technical, marketing and
management personnel. These and other risk factors are detailed in
General Magic's 1998 Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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*T
(1) Users must have existing access to the Internet to set up myTalk.
The toll-free calling service area is limited to the United
States and Canada only.
(2) Source: Electronic Mail & Messaging Systems,
tr.com
*T
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Note to Editors: General Magic, magicTalk and myTalk are
trademarks of General Magic, Inc., which may be registered in some
jurisdictions. All other brands, trademarks and service marks are the
property of their respective owners.
--30--aj/sf* mr/sf
CONTACT: General Magic, Inc., Sunnyvale
Judy Radlinsky, 408/774-4290
judy_radlinsky@generalmagic.com
or
Cunningham Communication
Cari Gushiken, 650/858-3822
cgushiken@ccipr.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED TELECOMMUNICATIONS
INTERACTIVE/MULTIMEDIA/INTERNET PRODUCT
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