New deal offers StarHub SMS alerts for Yahoo! Messenger
When contacted Monday, a StarHub spokesperson explained that its iPower WAP users will automatically send SMS alerts to their pre-selected group of friends when they (the iPower users) first log on to Yahoo! WML (wireless markup language) Messenger.
Previously, when a user did instant messaging via Yahoo! WML Messenger, their friends would not know that the user was online until they logged on to the service themselves.
When asked about the SMS alerts value proposition, the spokesperson said that as long as StarHub iPower users do not accidentally or suddenly log out of Yahoo! WML Messenger, "they are able to react to (the) alerts immediately".
StarHub's iPower WAP users do not have to pay for the incoming SMS alerts, he noted. The operator does not charge its subscribers for incoming calls either.
The spokesperson claimed that StarHub will be the only telco here to offer the Yahoo! WML Messenger SMS alerts for the moment. The alerts service will be available from August.
StarHub has more than 40,000 iPower WAP service users, all of whom can currently send and receive instant messages via Yahoo! WML Messenger. iPower users pay a monthly subscription fee of S$8 for a range of WAP services and applications, including email, checking schedule of movies and their synopses, receiving stock updates, and games.
According to the spokesperson, Yahoo! Singapore has an ongoing partnership with StarHub, whereby the former provides content, including sports, finance and news to mystarhub, its site that provides the downloads for its free surf service.
Both StarHub and Yahoo! Singapore declined to reveal financial details of the agreement.