Mark Evans

Montreal-based Oz Communications has scored a major coup by signing a deal to sell its mobile e-mail software to Cingular. The terms of the contract were not disclosed but it is Oz's largest one to date. Cingular will make the e-mail service available today as a download on five existing phones. It will also be pre-installed on new phones. Oz's software differs from that of Research in Motion because it sends users an alert that a new message has arrived rather than pushing the entire message on to the phone. The user can then decide if they want to open the message - thereby saving download costs. Oz's customers include Virgin, Bell Canada and Sprint. It investors include VantagePoint Venture Partners.