READ THIS!!! Notice the mention to "personal digital assistants" - So if my hearing was accurate yesterday - I thought I heard Markman mention eBAY!!!
Straight Up
Thursday May 13, 8:03 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
eBay and SkyTel to Offer Wireless Online Trading Solution
SkyTel Network Will Enable eBay Users to Monitor and Participate in
Auctions While Away from their Computers
SAN JOSE, Calif. and JACKSON, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 13, 1999-- eBay®(NASDAQ:EBAY - news), the world's leading person-to-person online trading community, and SkyTel Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYT - news) are joining forces to create a wireless person-to-person online trading service that will allow eBay users to receive auction updates and participate in auctions via wireless devices, including pagers, cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
The trading solution will offer the eBay community a suite of services. Wireless devices will notify buyers when they have been outbid in an auction and when they have won an auction on eBay. Sellers will be alerted when their items have sold. Users will also receive eBay broadcast messages with updates regarding general eBay community-wide news, new service offerings and service enhancements.
''Our users often tell us that they would like to follow eBay away from the home or the office,'' said Steve Westly, vice president of marketing and business development at eBay. ''SkyTel will make it possible for eBay users to get the very latest information on the items they are bidding on and selling when they are running errands, doing the shopping or driving the kids to school.''
eBay and SkyTel will offer an eBay branded paging solution to users that currently do not own an alphanumeric paging device. This solution will be available on eBay's web site and will include a text pager and prepaid service, a personal toll-free number, nationwide coverage as needed and an email address.
Through SkyTel's Page Recall capability, eBay/SkyTel members will also be able to access their auction notifications via any telephone in the United States when they are out of the coverage area. Members can also use the pager as a personal messaging service, in addition to receiving eBay notifications.
SkyTel will also have the ability to send auction notifications to eBay users who already own wireless devices with Internet email addresses, including cell phones and PDAs.
''SkyTel is proud to participate in the e-commerce arena as eBay's official person-to-person wireless trading solution,'' said John T. Stupka, SkyTel president and CEO. ''Prior to this service, many eBay users interested in items up for auction on the site may have been hesitant to leave their computers. SkyTel will provide the link that gives eBay users the freedom to go to work, to the store, to a special function or just about anywhere, without missing out on a coveted item.''
The auction alert service, which will be launched by July 1999, is the first offering in a full suite of wireless trading solutions that SkyTel and eBay will roll out. Later in the year, SkyTel and eBay plan to offer an interactive service to allow eBay members to increase auction bid amounts directly from their wireless devices.
About SkyTel
SkyTel Communications, Inc. (www.skytel.com) is a leader in wireless messaging, serving more than 1.6 million customers. Since 1989, SkyTel has led the industry toward true nationwide messaging through a series of innovations that culminated in SkyTel two-way interactive messaging service. This enables customers to exchange messages with the Internet and other pagers, receive messages via email and the Internet, and send messages to any telephone in the United States. SkyTel is headquartered in Jackson, Miss., and had 1998 revenue of $518 million.
About eBay
eBay (www.ebay.com), the world's personal trading community(TM), pioneered person-to-person online trading. Founded in 1995, eBay has developed an efficient and entertaining trading site on the Web that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. eBay has more than 3.8 million registered users and had more than eight million unique visitors to the site in March 1999. Currently, there are more than 1.9 million items listed for sale. More than 250,000 items are added daily in more than 1,500 categories, including: antiques; books, movies and music; coins and stamps; collectibles; computers; dolls and figures; jewelry and gemstones; photo and electronics; pottery and glass; sports memorabilia; and toys.
Statements in this press release that relate to future plans, objectives, expectations, performance, events and the like are ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Future events, risks and uncertainties, individually or in the aggregate, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Those factors could include uncertainties related to the negotiation of definitive agreements and the development of new technology, and other factors discussed in the ''forward-looking information'' or ''risk factors'' sections included in the respective companies' prospectuses, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and annual reports on Form 10-K.
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