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Technology Stocks : General Magic -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jane Hafker who wrote (2713)	7/8/1998 11:08:00 PM
From: STRTYZ	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 10081

----News----- SUNNYVALE, CALIF. (July 8) BUSINESS WIRE -July 8, 1998--General Magic, Inc., a leading developer of integrated voice and data applications, has begun beta tests of its forthcoming Portico(TM) service. Initial beta testing commenced in June with two important target groups: telecommunications carriers and mobile business professionals. These groups will provide over 1,000 users for the beta program. The carriers are comprised of eight of the top telecommunications companies in the United States, including cellular, PCS and land-line providers. General Magic is on schedule to deliver Portico commercially on July 30 in a progressive rollout of the service. The only second generation virtual assistant, Portico service integrates a subscriber's voice mail, email, address book and calendar, as well as company news and stock quotes. Information can be accessed via any telephone or by using a popular Web browser. The telecommunications carriers are acting as beta users for General Magic and will offer system feedback from the carrier perspective. External trials with selected customers in target markets are expected to follow. Completion of carrier trials will help achieve General Magic's distribution strategy of making the Portico service available through carriers in the months ahead. "We are putting Portico through its paces, rigorously testing every aspect of the service, from the customer sign-up experience to our magicTalk(TM) voice user interface to our subscriber support and service," said Steve Markman, chairman, president and CEO at General Magic. "The input from the 'road warriors' and carriers will help us fine-tune the service to ensure that it meets the essential needs of our target customers." While beta feedback from mobile professionals is expected to continue over the next couple of months, the Company plans to make Portico commercially available on July 30 through a nationwide network of resellers. The beta tests follow a series of successful alpha tests with General Magic personnel, which demonstrated the system's many capabilities. The beta service includes all the features that will be offered at commercial launch -- fully integrated voice mail, e-mail, fax-send, address book, calendar, stock market quotes and company news. Thanks to the extensibility and scalability of its magicTalk platform, General Magic also has the ability to incorporate additional features into the Portico service as they are developed and tested. "General Magic is adopting a sensible approach by load-testing Portico with an increasingly larger audience of carriers, end-users, technicians and analysts before making it commercially available," said Alan Reiter, president of Wireless Internet & Mobile Computing, one of the country's leading firms for wireless Internet analysis. "The commencement of the beta trials is an important milestone for General Magic on the road to offering a rock-solid service." In accordance with U.S. securities law, General Magic notes that this press release contains forward-looking statements. There are risks that may cause actual results to vary materially. These risks include, but are not limited to, the challenges inherent in the development and delivery of complex technologies; market acceptance of the Company's Portico service; the Company's dependence on establishing distribution relationships; the Company's ability to respond to competitive pressures; 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 1997 Form 10-K and first quarter 1998 Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About General Magic General Magic, Inc. offers products and services that integrate voice and data technologies making communications and access to information easy and convenient for people, no matter where they are. The Company's development efforts are founded on its patented agent technology, innovative user-interface and communications-centric designs to provide simple, yet effective ways for people to keep in touch with the information they need to be successful. The Company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information on General Magic and Portico, please visit the Company's Web site at generalmagic.com . Note to Editors: General Magic, Portico and magicTalk are trademarks of General Magic, Inc. -0- aj/sf* cmf/sf CONTACT: General Magic Buck Krawczyk, 408/774-4000 buck@generalmagic.com or Access Communications Michelle Knoop, 415/904-7070 x286 mknoop@accesspr.com or The Financial Relations Board Don Markley or Cathy Roberts, 415/986-1591 dxm@sf.frbd.com KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED TELECOMMUNICATIONS INTERACTIVE/MULTIMEDIA/INTERNET PRODUCT Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet with Hyperlinks to your home page. URL: businesswire.com