On Monday, AOL announced that it would make its popular instant messenger service open to software and service developers, who will now be able to create new and customized versions of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM). AOL will provide developers with software toolkits in order to allow them to make alterations to AIM.
Software developers will now be able to develop plug-ins, mash-ups, and stand-alone applications that will have the opportunity to reach AIM’s 63 million users. The developer program is called Open AIM, and will allow developers to reach niche target users that were not worth the time or money for AOL engineers to cater to.
“If there is a business model that they want to pursue, it is up to them,” said Jamie Odell, AIM’s director of product management.
This means that AIM could have small competition in the near future from developers and companies that use Open AIM to create their own customized AIM services. However, AOL has measures already in place to prevent them from being completely overrun by a competitor that branches off of Open AIM.
Though developers of the tweaked versions of AIM will have the opportunity to sell them as well as sell ad placements, there are limits. If a developer’s application garners more than 250,000 logins per day, or 2 million logins a month, he must enter into a licensing agreement with AOL.
Concerning potential spamming, AIM’s chief architect, Justin Uberti, assures consumers that Open AIM already has a sufficient number of safety measures that will prevent applications from being used for unpleasant goals.
This is a “dramatic turnaround for AOL,” as Joe Wilcox said. Wilcox is an analyst at Jupiter Research.
AOL is essentially utilizing a global pool of developers that may help AOL in their battle with Microsoft. Kevin Conroy, executive vice president of AOL Media Networks, said “The next wave of opportunities will come as a result of allowing developers to innovate.”
Users of AIM are already excited, citing the fact that AIM has not changed much at all in appearance and functionality, while Yahoo and MSN’s respective messaging services have made visible progress.
AIM already faces tough competition in the instant messaging market from Yahoo, MSN, and Google, which is why AOL hopes that this bold move for AIM will “expand its reach and relevance.”
Sources:
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=
15960&hed=AOL+Opens+Up+AIM+Code§or=
Regions&subsector=Americas
http://today.reuters.com/business/
newsArticle.aspx?type=media&storyID=
nN05538555
http://news.com.com/2061-11199_3-6046228.html
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