04/29/96 FREE E-MAIL, BUT WITH A CATCH

FREE E-MAIL, BUT WITH A CATCH

HERE'S A NEW BID TO EARN money off the Internet: a free E-mail service that runs ads. Many World Wide Web sites, such as Yahoo, already carry advertising, but users must pay for an Internet connection to view them. Juno Online Services, soon to be available, figures that gratis E-mail will attract the users.
Juno, which can be tapped via an 800 number, will be able to send mail to any Internet address without needing a Net service provider. Users can download its software from www.juno.com. Ads, which change each time you dial into Juno, appear first as a banner along the screen's top edge. Viewers may click on the banner and get a full screen or more of cyberspiel.
The fledgling service plans to tailor its ads to individual subscribers, using an E-mailed profile they fill out when signing up. Juno says it may sell lists of subscribers who agree to receive junk E-mail. Juno advertisers include Snapple, Quaker Oats, and Miramax.
The force behind this is New York investment banker David Shaw. Shaw, a former Columbia University computer-science prof, and others are bankrolling Juno up to $20 million.
By John Verity