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PR03050 2 May 2003
MSN Launches World's First
‘Internet Loo’
New WWW.C Offers Convenience Surfing Relief to
Festival-goers this Summer
London
- UK - April 30th 2003 - The UK’s most popular website msn.co.uk is creating the world’s first
‘Internet Loo’. The iLoo will be mobile and is part of MSN’s mission to allow
instant logging on ‘anytime and any place’.
In time for the summer
festival season, MSN is in the process of converting a portable loo to create a
unique experience for surfers looking for an alternative to the bog-standard
festival loo experience. Users will be able to sit down, undock a wireless
keyboard and conveniently access the first ever WWW.C.
A plasma screen
will be located directly in front of them which can be adjusted to a desired
height level. MSN is also in talks with toilet paper manufacturers to produce
special web paper for those in need of URL inspiration.
Tracy Blacher,
Marketing Manager at MSN said: “The internet’s so much a part of everyday life
now that surfing on the loo was the next natural step. People used to reach for
a book or mag when they were on the loo but now they’ll be logging on! It’s
exciting to think that the smallest room can now be the gateway to the massive
virtual world.’
Cutting edge technology is central to MSN’s plans for the
iLoo. The world’s first www.c will be broadband enabled using the most up to
date wi-fi technology, meaning no unsightly telephone wires. Users will simply
be able to sit down, power up, and start emailing, shopping or searching for
information. There will also be a six channel surround sound speaker system
under the sink unit for use with listening to music from the
Internet
Tracy Blacher explains: ‘‘The MSN iLoo is not a bog standard
affair. We are looking at vacuum powered options and the very latest broadband
enabled technology to ensure the best loo-surfing experience.’
2
MSN plan to install an
external ‘Hotmail station’ on the outside of the MSN iLoo so people can do
something useful while they queue. This will include a waterproof keyboard and
plasma screen enabling users to surf the Internet whilst waiting.
The
MSN iLoo has passed the planning stages and is in the early phase of
construction. Details of its launch have not yet been announced but the MSN iLoo
will be making an appearance at a majority of the summer season festivals. The
pilot project follows the success of the world’s first cyber park bench – the
MSN Internet Park Bench in Bury St Edmunds.
This is the latest in a
series of MSN.co.uk initiatives which look at the changing nature of how we use
the web as it constantly evolves. In 1997 MSN created Britain’s first ‘Cyber
Brookside’, by taking an ordinary London street and turning it into a close-knit
community by giving the residents internet-connected PCs which they used to come
together online. In 1999, MSN put online shopping to the ultimate test when four
volunteers agreed to be locked in separate rooms for 100 hours to see if they
could survive with only the Internet to keep them alive. In 2001, MSN launched
the world’s first ever Internet park bench, bringing home in everyday terms the
liberating qualities of the Internet – it can be used anytime, any place and
anywhere.
Ends
Notes to Editors
About msn.co.uk
MSN attracts more than 574 million
unique users worldwide and 12 million visitors per month in the UK (Nielsen
March 2003). Available in 34 markets and 18 languages, MSN is a world leader in
delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to
businesses worldwide. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN
brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their
time online.
Best of breed services available on msn.co.uk include MSN Hotmail, the UK’s most
popular free web-based e-mail service with 7.4 million users in the UK and over
126 million users worldwide (MSN Internal data); MSN Messenger Service, the UK’s
number one instant messaging service on the internet with 5.9 million monthly
users (Nielsen Feb 2003) and MSN Search, the UK’s number one search engine with
10.8 million users per month (MSN Internal data). MSN is located on the Web at
http://www.msn.co.uk/.
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