MSN Direct Offers New Pricing Options

REDMOND, Wash. -- Oct. 1, 2004 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced new pricing options for the MSN® Direct (www.msndirect.com) service, which provides personalized content and information to Smart Watches.

Beginning this week, customers can select from the following plans for added convenience and value:

Smart Plan Plus. For an additional $20 (U.S.)/$25 (CDN) per year, customers can upgrade their service to include personal messages and calendar appointments.

Monthly Plan. For customers who prefer it, Smart Plan Plus charges can be broken into monthly payments of $9.95 (U.S.)/$13.95 (CDN).

Subscribers choose the information they want to receive on their watch by visiting the MSN Direct Web site. Since the launch of Smart Watches, Microsoft has doubled the number of available content channels by extending the offerings to include daily diversions as well as sports, horoscope and lottery information.

To provide people with a glimpse of available MSN Direct content, all Smart Watches for MSN Direct will begin to receive select content automatically from the time of purchase.* Beginning in mid-October, this content will include national news headlines, local temperature information and stock indices. These data feeds will supplement the standard Smart Watch features, which include adjustable watch faces, monthly calendar view, timers, alarms, a chronometer and automatic time zone adjustment.