The increasingly competitive Web-based e-mail market has a new player: Instant-messaging provider ICQ now offers a fee-based service that includes 2G bytes of storage, a calendar feature, task manager, notepad, wireless access and support for both POP3 and IMAP
The increasingly competitive Web-based e-mail market has a new player: Instant-messaging provider ICQ now offers a fee-based service that includes 2G bytes of storage, a calendar feature, task manager, notepad, wireless access and support for both POP3 and Internet Message Access Protocol.
The service also includes spam filtering and blocking, protection against viruses and a 20M-byte ceiling on files sent or received. The service offers a feature that translates messages into seven languages, the ability to compress large attachments and Wireless Access Protocol support for access from a mobile device. The features in this service make it a competitor to services from other providers, such as Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, whose Gmail Web-based e-mail is in beta.
The ICQ Web-based e-mail service has features available for additional fees. One extra-cost feature lets users send e-mails to wireless devices that support Short Message Service. Another one is a video e-mail service that subscribers can use if they have Webcams attached to their PCs; the Web-based e-mail interface has VCR-like controls to record the message, which recipients in turn can play back without additional software on Windows-based PCs.
Meanwhile, ICQ also said its free Web-based e-mail service, which used to be a generic and bare-bones offering, has undergone a significant revamping. It now features enhanced message-search features, virus and spam protection, more ways to manage in-box messages, such as a new folder for drafts and a sent-mail confirmation feature. However, in-box storage for the free 6M-byte service is low compared with other providers.
ICQ, owned by AOL, is set to sell the service for $20 per year. ICQ is partnering with Mail2World to provide these Web-based e-mail services. ICQ signed up Mail2World several months ago, says Ronen Arad, ICQ director of product management.
Perez is a correspondent with the IDG News Service.
