Accessing Windows Live Is Now Easier on iPhone, iPod touch

Apple has announced that iPhone / iPod touch users are no longer required to upgrade to Windows Live Hotmail Plus subscription or MSN Premium subscription in order to access their POP3 accounts, be they on Windows Live, Hotmail, or MSN.

The company behind the Mac operating system reveals in a recently updated knowledge base document that using Mail on the iPhone or iPod touch with MSN, Windows Live, or Hotmail accounts previously required upgrading your mail service to a Plus or Premium account for POP3 or IMAP.

Now, owners of an iPhone, iPod touch, iPhone 3G or iPod touch (2nd Generation) are no longer required to upgrade, while POP3 access to Hotmail, Windows Live, and MSN is available in more territories. Additional information is included in Apple's tech note:

Upgrading to Windows Live Hotmail Plus subscription or MSN Premium subscription is no longer needed to access your Windows Live, Hotmail, or MSN mail account with POP3 on iPhone or iPod touch. POP3 access to Hotmail, Windows Live, and MSN customers is now available in the United States, Brazil, United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. In those countries, you can now send and receive email messages from the account(s) on the iPhone or iPod touch. POP3 access to mail for additional countries are being added in the future.

Apple encourages iPhone / iPod touch owners to visit Microsoft's web site for further details. To spare you the trip, Microsoft says, “We are happy to announce that POP3 technology is now available to Hotmail users in the United States and Brazil in addition to the countries who rolled out the functionality last month (United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands). If you don’t see your country or region in this list, never fear, we’ll be rolling POP3 out to more parts of the world later this year.”