AT&T Introduces AT&T PersonaLink Services, Available Today on Sony Magic Link Personal Communicator
NEW YORK — September 28, 1994 — AT&T today announced commercial availability of AT&T PersonaLink Services, a new network service designed to make electronic communication easy and enjoyable. PersonaLink Services is a foundation, or "platform," for an electronic community where people can exchange messages, work and play, and where creative companies and individuals can offer products and services to subscribers.
PersonaLink Services is so-named because it can accommodate each subscriber's personal preferences for handling day-to-day tasks with the help of "intelligent assistants."
Intelligent assistants are mobile software programs that go to places in the electronic community and carry out their owners' instructions. They can be thought of as extensions of the people who dispatch them, and are brought to life by Telescript(TM) technology, a new communications language developed by General Magic, Inc. AT&T PersonaLink Services is the world's first communications service to incorporate Telescript technology.
People can subscribe to AT&T PersonaLink Services when they buy a personal communicator or other device that incorporates Telescript language capabilities. The first commercially available product with PersonaLink Services and Telescript built in is the Sony Magic Link(TM) personal intelligent communicator, which Sony introduced and shipped today.
What subscribers get
Through a simple electronic registration process, every PersonaLink Services subscriber will be assigned a mailbox, or address, in the electronic community. Subsribers will enjoy personalized messaging through a messaging service called PersonaLink Mail, which was designed by AT&T specifically for PersonaLink Services; a free news service called AT&T PersonaLink Daily News Summary, with information created and supplied by LEXIS(R)/NEXIS(R) Services; optional automatic delivery of software enhancements such as new features and upgrades; the ability to personalize messages with animations, brief voice recordings, music, electronic ink, and decorative stamps; and a range of connections both wireline and wireless.
Through a gateway to AT&T EasyLink Services, subscribers will be able to reach and be reached by millions of people on public and private messaging services, including the Internet, X.400-based mail services, and local area network-based mail systems. They also will be able to send messages to virtually any fax machine in the world.
Using PersonaLink Mail intelligent assistants, subscribers have easy access to powerful "filtering" capabilities, which means they can screen messages based on who's sending the message or what it's about. These filtering abilities work for messages sent from other PersonaLink Services subscribers as well as messages from people using other services, such as the Internet.
A subscriber also can send a message to another subscriber without having to know more than his or her name, using PersonaLink Services' "smart" subscriber directory. An intelligent assistant will search this directory, deliver the message and bring back complete addressing information to the originator, for use next time. It's easy to send a message to many people at once, even if some are on different mail systems, at fax machines or pagers, with the help of an intelligent assistant to distribute the message.
For Sony's Magic Link Personal Communicator, PersonaLink Services will support wireless messaging through the SkyTel(R) paging network. Customers using a SkyTel alphanumeric pager or an optional Sony Magic Link pager card can receive messages wirelessly through SkyTel. They also can use the filtering and forwarding services of PersonaLink intelligent assistants to designate which messages they want to receive wirelessly, and can receive automatic notification that specific messages have arrived. PersonaLink Services subscribers also can send messages to SkyTel alphanumeric paging customers.
In late 1994, subscribers will have access to AT&T PersonaLink Market Square(SM) Services, an electronic shopping mall with stores and information services, modeled on a real-world metaphor that is both intuitive and enjoyable to navigate.
Market Square Services will give merchants the flexibility to build their own unique store environment. Personal shopping assistants will help subscribers browse, select, and purchase products and services. PersonaLink Market Square Service will be based on technology licensed from eShop (TM), Inc.
The first stores planned for PersonaLink Market Square Services are a floral and gift service from 800-FLOWERS; an electronic computer catalog service from Computer Express; a software and novelty gift shop called Everything Magic (TM) from eShop; and an electronic information store called iMMEDIATE! ANSWERS (TM) from LEXIS/NEXIS.
"AT&T is proud to introduce the world's first commercial service that uses mobile intelligent assistants," said Ray Tringali, vice president and general manager, AT&T PersonaLink Services. "PersonaLink Services will help people manage their day-to-day tasks more efficiently, giving them time to do other, more interesting things."
Future service enhancements will permit intelligent assistants to perform more complicated tasks, such as notify their owners of changes in stock prices, search publications and databases for personalized information, and perform complex transactions like travel reservations.
PersonaLink Services is an open platform
PersonaLink Services is designed to enable creative individuals and companies to offer a variety of services to subscribers. Using PersonaLink Services' powerful tools and network support, service and information providers large and small will be able to interact directly with their own customers in the PersonaLink Services community.
"Over time," said Gordon Bridge, president of AT&T Consumer Interactive Services, "it will be the creativity of numerous individuals and entrepreneurial companies that will bring the extraordinary power of this platform to its full potential."
PersonaLink Services is available nationwide starting today, accessible from Sony's Magic Link personal communicator. In 1995 AT&T plans to make PersonaLink Services available on more devices, including desktop and portable computers, and other personal communicators incorporating Telescript.
Through March 1995, PersonaLink Services will be available at a special introductory fee of $9.95 per month for a basic service package that includes unlimited use of electronic messaging via PersonaLink Services(a). Subscribers will be billed monthly to a credit card. After March 1995, subscribers will be billed based on their individual use and will have several pricing options to choose from based on the features and services they use most frequently.
A new AT&T Customer Care Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, is dedicated to serving AT&T PersonaLink Services subscribers with state-of-the-art technology and responsive customer care.
People can get more information about AT&T PersonaLink Services by calling 1-800-936-LINK. (a) There will be additional charges for faxes. There may be additional charges for SkyTel services. PersonaLink Services may add other services during this timeframe that could result in additional charges.
EasyLink is a registered trademark of AT&T.
Everything Magic and eShop are trademarks of eShop, Inc.
iMMEDIATE! ANSWERS is a trademark of Mead Data Central.
LEXIS/NEXIS are registered trademarks of Mead Data Central.
Magic Link is a trademark of Sony Corporation.
PersonaLink, Market Square, attpls and attpls.net are service marks of AT&T.
SkyTel is a registered trademark of SkyTel Corp.
Telescript is a trademark of General Magic, Inc.
CONTACT:
Gail Silver
AT&T PersonaLink Services
201-331-4132 (office)
908-218-0422 (home)
Gail_Silver(at)attpls.net (PersonaLink Mail)
or
Janet Stone
AT&T PersonaLink Services
201-331-4144 (office)
201-455-7291 (home)
Janet_Stone(at)attpls.net (PersonaLink Mail)