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Plaxo contact service adds paid features
By Joris Evers

Two years after launching its free online address book service, Plaxo Inc. on Tuesday plans to introduce paid offerings for mobile access and for cleaning up duplicate entries in address books.

Plaxo Mobile Access will let users view their contacts, calendars and tasks using a phone or other device equipped with a browser that supports WAP (wireless application protocol). Plaxo Address Book Optimizer can scan the user's contact list for duplicate entries and delete those, and it can merge multiple incomplete entries into a single, complete entry, according to Plaxo.

Each service will cost US$29.95 per year. Plaxo also will offer a $49.95 per year bundle that includes both premium services and Plaxo VIP Support, which has been available since December 2003 and includes priority e-mail, phone and online support.

Although it does not know how many of its more than 5 million users will buy the new services, Plaxo hopes they will help the company break even, said Todd Masonis, founder and vice president of products at the Mountain View, California, company. Plaxo is privately held and has raised almost $20 million from venture capitalists and private investors since it was founded in 2001.

Plaxo already makes some money through a Yahoo search bar in its client software and from electronic commerce partnerships, such as one that reminds users of birthdays and allows them to order flowers or gifts through Plaxo, Masonis said.

Plaxo's current service lets users synchronize their address book, calendar and tasks in Microsoft Corp.'s Outlook and Outlook Express clients with the online service. The service keeps the address book up to date by linking Plaxo members and letting users send update request e-mail messages to contacts who are not members.

Plaxo is working to add address book synchronization for users of Yahoo Corp.'s Web-based mail service. The feature is scheduled to be launched in several weeks, Masonis said. Users can already import Yahoo contact information as well as contact data from a variety of other sources, including the Max OS X Address Book and Palm Desktop software, according to the Plaxo Web site.

Posted March 22, 2005 01:39 PM |