Mystery gremlin floors Genie's email

NEWS Genie users have been left wondering where their next mail is coming from as the mobile portal's mail service has been out of action for a week. The company said in a statement that the problem was "identified" on 15 January, though it has failed to identify what the problem actually is. Genie promised to have the system up and working by Thursday. Users have been unable to send, receive or read email through either a POP3-based program such as Outlook or a web browser. WAP and SMS mail users have not been affected, the company said. Genie has promised to store all incoming mails, and forward them on when the service is available once more. Laurence Alexander, managing director of Genie UK, said: "Genie apologises to all of its users affected and for any inconvenience caused. Our engineers are working around the clock to resolve the problem and it is our hope that a full service will be up and running by Thursday." Genie is the mobile portal and content business of mmO2, the recently floated mobile arm of BT.