OmniSky and Microsoft to Deliver Wireless Web and E-Mail Service To Pocket PC Platform

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 16, 2000 — Today at the CTIA Wireless IT show, OmniSky Corp. and Microsoft Corp. announced that OmniSky’s award-winning wireless Internet and e-mail service will be extended to the Microsoft® Windows® Powered Pocket PC platform. This latest offering gives customers the first color mobile access to OmniSky’s service and furthers OmniSky’s strategy to support leading platforms, which allow the company to offer branded wireless Internet services across a range of mobile handheld devices.

Pocket PC customers with a wireless modem and an OmniSky subscription can receive real-time, color wireless access to the Internet, send and receive e-mail messages, and wirelessly manage up to six of their own POP3 e-mail accounts, for the standard OmniSky service price of $39.95 per month.

Demonstrations of the OmniSky service on Pocket PC devices will take place in the Microsoft and OmniSky booths at CTIA. Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Jornada Pocket PC is expected to be the first Pocket PC supported with OmniSky service. The OmniSky wireless service covers 118 major metropolitan areas that encompass more than 160 million people.

Pocket PC customers with a separate modem or wireless solution have always had the ability to access virtually any Web site with Pocket Internet Explorer, but with the OmniSky service, now they can also access a vast and growing portal of Web content modified for enhanced viewing and performance on handheld mobile devices. The OmniSky service offers links to nearly 1,000 popular Web sites optimized for use and viewing on handheld mobile devices, plus access to a sizable base of
“Web clippings,”
in addition to the whole Web. A key benefit of OmniSky’s service is the easy-to-use wireless Internet portal that organizes information into various categories, including entertainment, finance, news, shopping, sports, travel and local information.

“Microsoft and its hardware partners have developed a great productivity solution for the mobile professional with the Pocket PC, and we think our service really shines on the color Pocket PC platform,”
said Patrick McVeigh, CEO of OmniSky.
“Offering the OmniSky service to Pocket PC customers is an important step for us in delivering the most compelling service for accessing the Internet and e-mail across the widest range of devices available.”

“Easy wireless access to information and the Web is something we’re extremely focused on providing to Pocket PC users,”
said Rogers Weed, general manager of the Mobile Devices Division at Microsoft.
“The Pocket PC is the only PDA that ships with a full color Internet browser and the power to display Web content like none other. OmniSky’s service is just going to rock on these devices.”

About Pocket PC

Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PCs, the next-generation PDAs from Microsoft and industry partners, offer customers a great way to connect to their most essential information while away from their desks, yet are versatile enough to satisfy the requirements of today’s busy mobile lifestyle. Pocket PCs already include a broad range of native business, personal productivity and entertainment applications, and can easily be expanded to adapt to each customer’s changing needs through a continually growing number of industry-standard hardware and software options. All Pocket PCs come with Pocket Internet Explorer browser software with Shrink-to-Fit capability, which dynamically resizes a Web site for viewing on a small screen, and with integrated AvantGo, which enables customers to view any Web site either online or offline with the richest browsing experience of any device in its class.

About OmniSky

OmniSky Corp. (Nasdaq
“OMNY”
) is mobilizing the Internet for users of handheld devices. The OmniSky wireless Internet and e-mail service offers unlimited usage and enables subscribers to access and navigate the Internet, send and receive e-mail messages and securely conduct e-commerce transactions all for a fixed monthly fee. OmniSky partners with the leading wireless hardware, services and infrastructure providers, including AT & T Wireless, PSINet, Aether Systems and InfoSpace, as well as the most popular online content and commerce providers, including AOL, eBay, e*Trade and Yahoo!. Subscribers can access nearly 1,000 links to optimized Web content through an intuitive wireless portal that organizes information into categories such as finance, shopping, news, sports and more. In addition, subscribers can search and surf the Web through the OmniSky wireless portal. OmniSky currently provides its service on the Palm V and Palm Vx handheld mobile devices and expects to offer service on multiple devices, platforms and networks capable of offering handheld users a compelling wireless experience.

OmniSky currently offers its service within the United States in over 118 major metropolitan areas, encompassing over 160 million people. Through a joint venture with News Corp., OmniSky expects to begin offering its wireless service internationally in the first half of 2001. OmniSky is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. For more information, visit http://www.omnisky.com or call (650) 969-7700.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.

Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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