By Heather McLean, 9 October 2001 17:52
NEWS Microsoft has launched a service that alerts consumers to important events from any mobile device, as part of its .NET offering. .NET Alert is Microsoft's second addition to the .NET menagerie and comes hot on the heels of its Passport technology. The .NET Alert service is being backed by organisations including Nasdaq and eBay, which are encouraging consumers to sign up for mobile alerts for stock prices and banking transactions, for example. Phil Cross, development marketing manager at Microsoft, said: "The end user chooses exactly what details they wish to be alerted on. Charging for these services is a very grainy issue and is up to the providers." IBM and Sun Microsystems both have similar services to the .NET idea, yet both have been reluctant to announce new services. Cross commented: "We are working closely with IBM on the webServices standards. We will be competing quite heavily with them at the next [public] level. I imagine IBM will be next to [bring out] something similar to Alert, although I'd rather they didn't." Siva Darivemula, marketing manager for IBM webServices, disagreed: "Our focus is on delivering solutions first, not specific products. We are doing this through partnerships and alliances." Darivemula refused to comment on Cross's claim that IBM is at least six months behind Microsoft in the .NET versus Websphere battle.
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