General Magic Signs With LinkShare

General Magic Inc. selected New York City-based LinkShare Corp. as a Web affiliate partner to attract new subscribers for its voice-enabled services.

The LinkShare affiliate marketing network will be used to promote General Magic’s Portico virtual assistant service and new myTalk free email service. LinkShare facilitates e-commerce by providing companies with the tools and technology to cross-refer their customers. LinkShare specializes in brokering affiliate programs between Web businesses to help them generate revenue for each other.

General Magic develops and markets voice-enabled services that make it easy for people to access and act on information using any telephone and their own spoken words. Its Portico service, launched in July 1998 for mobile professionals, provides many of the services of a human assistant on an around-the-clock basis. Subscribers have access to voice mail, email, calendar, address book, news and stock quotes, over any telephone or using a standard Web browser from a personal computer.

myTalk, launched June 15, 1999, offers consumers free access to their email over the phone or from a Web browser. The service, available at, is supported by ad sponsorship and has attracted more than 30,000 members since it was introduced.