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

To: Drew Freeman who wrote (4550)	12/28/1998 2:48:00 PM
From: Mark Oliver	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10081

General Magic Shares Jump On Word Firm Will Market Service Over Web Dow Jones Online News, Monday, December 28, 1998 at 14:10 NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Shares of General Magic Inc. surged Monday, after the communications-software maker said online sign-up for its Portico "virtual-assistant" service will begin Jan. 5. In afternoon trading, Nasdaq-listed shares of General Magic (GMGC) were up $1.031, or 22%, at $5.781 on volume of 3.6 million, compared with average daily turnover of 812,000 shares. Portico integrates voice mail, electronic-mail, fax and information retrieval and is based on recognizing users' voice commands. The service is designed to allow mobile users to check their calendars, address books and manage other communications over the telephone. For example, one could verbally instruct the service to forward all incoming phone calls to a cellular phone or to look up an address from a contact list. The company said the service, which is currently available through a nationwide network of telecommunications and Internet resellers, will be available through General Magic's Web site on Jan. 5. Software giant Microsoft Corp., backing its faith in the product, recently acquired a 11.9% stake in General Magic. General Magic was founded in 1990 by former Apple Computer Inc. employees and bankrolled by big-name investors such as AT&T Corp., Sony Corp. and Motorola Inc. It failed to successfully commercialize its original products, which included operating systems for hand-held computers and "agent" software that could move around computer networks to perform tasks. The company later dumped its management and software business, shifting to the Portico service. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.