eBay dumping Microsoft Passport and Alerts

I just got two emails from eBay stated that starting Jan. 24th, they would no longer be sending Alerts through Microsoft’s .Net alerts for events, nor will they be allowing Microsoft Passport to be used as a method to sign in.  They are now providing their own (currently free) mechanism for alerts via SMS to mobiles, or their new eBay toolbar.

So with the Google toolbar and the eBay toolbar, when is Amazon coming out with it’s own toolbar (oh, someone already did one)?

I’m guessing that with eBay supporting it’s own method of alerts it is no longer necessary to also provide Passport login capability.  .Net alerts and Passport is NOT cheap for sure.  If you have the capability to send your own alerts, etc. I wonder what reason you would have to provide the Passport login feature, unless you just really wanted to provide single sign on for people (which was nice).  eBay asks for your password so much though I found I was using my eBay login and password just so I wouldn’t have to click to the extra sign in page.

[EDIT] - In discussion with a co-worker I hear that Microsoft is scaling back Passport for use with it’s own sites and that of  “close” partners.  This appears to be old news, but I hadn’t heard it.  This is a bummer in that I really liked Passport and will miss the eBay alerts on my IM.  It was nice having ONE place to to go to set up my alerts and times, etc.  Especially if you needed to turn off all messages for a period of time.  Now they will be scattered all over the net.