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BlueTie First to Offer Free Email and Calendaring Designed for Small Business
Web-based service raises the bar by offering Microsoft alternative free without advertising
Rochester, N.Y., Oct. 23, 2006 BlueTie, Inc., the leading provider of small business email and calendaring services, announced today that it has begun offering its online service for free. The firm currently supports hundreds of thousands of paid users. This unprecedented move introduces the next generation of collaboration software free as a service, replacing outdated client-server solutions like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange. BlueTie is supported by a business model that generates revenue through partnerships with trusted business service providers.
BlueTie has developed a patent-pending method to drive revenue from its free offering by presenting value-added services to users through partnerships with well-known companies such as Orbitz, Constant Contact and many others. Unlike free consumer email services such as Microsoft Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Google Gmail which attempt to secure revenue through advertising - these partners provide a wide range of useful small business services such as the ability to book travel, send and receive faxes, and purchase office supplies from within the application. BlueTie is making it easy for small businesses to complete everyday business transactions. As a reflection of BlueTies commitment to providing a business class service, there are no banner, text or other advertisements within the application and the use of partner services is entirely optional.
Were democratizing technology by delivering full-featured business software at no cost, while providing a user experience that is superior in speed and performance to traditional desktop applications, said David Koretz, founder, president and CEO of BlueTie. Our revenue model enables us to deliver this software for free, while growing our business through partnerships with leading small business vendors.
The free online email, calendaring and collaboration solution is now available within the United States at www.BlueTie.com.
Free to Small Businesses Forever
BlueTies free online offering includes business class email with domain name support and spam and virus protection, integrated with shared calendars, files and contacts. The free offering supports up to 20 users per account and includes administrative tools that make it easy for any small business to manage.
Email accounts can be personalized to reflect a companys domain for a more professional appearance, such as jane@yourcompany.com. Each user receives five Gigabytes (GB) of email and file storage the highest capacity of any online business application and a desktop-like experience including rich-text formatting, spellcheck and drag-and-drop folders.
Leading Small Business Partners
Partnerships with nationally recognized small business service providers give users unobtrusive, on-demand access to relevant business services, simplifying everyday tasks. BlueTie users will see these services only when they are needed such as when booking a business trip or receiving a birthday reminder and they will be able to complete these transactions from within the BlueTie application. BlueTie will generate revenue from its free offering through revenue sharing with its partners not from the users directly. The value-added services are a range of subscriptions, free services, per use services and product purchases. Usage of these integrated business services is completely optional, and those who choose to take advantage of them will pay the same competitive prices offered directly from the providers websites.
BlueTie will soon introduce integrated travel reservation services from Orbitz, and email marketing services from Constant Contact. Additional services, such as web conferencing, small business credit cards and office supplies ordering, will be phased in over time. Partners and services are all nationally recognized brands and are selected based on their relevance to small businesses.
About BlueTie, Inc.
BlueTie is the leading provider of hosted email and calendaring solutions for small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and service providers worldwide. BlueTie revolutionized the Software as a Service sector in 1999 by introducing the first hosted suite of small business tools that require no hardware, software or IT support. BlueTie continues to lead the SaaS movement by delivering incredibly simple applications that are fast, inexpensive, and reliable. BlueTies software is available direct to SMBs at www.BlueTie.com.
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CONTACTS: Crystal Prince, Text 100, 585-697-2650, crystalp@text100.com
Martin Edic, BlueTie, 585-419-6409, martin@BlueTie.com
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