Numbers two and three in the instant messaging realm have finally made visible steps towards an alliance that they announced back in October. In what would appear to be a viable threat to AOL’s number one AIM, Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger, second and third in the number of IM users, respectively, unveiled a limited beta test of interoperability between the two instant messaging services.
The test run will allow users of the respective IM services to send messages to each other, across the two separate platforms. This comes about two weeks behind schedule, but will surely garner the approval of IM users who have long been frustrated by their inability to talk to users of other IM services through their own platform.
Microsoft and Yahoo’s test will be available in the U.S. and 18 other countries, including Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
This move tackles a key issue for many IM users. David Utter of WebProNews put it this way: “People wanted control of their messaging experience. They can email anyone on any system, or call from a cellphone to any other cellphone, without a problem. Why should IM be any different?”
“The first-of-its-kind interoperability between consumer IM leaders Microsoft and Yahoo gives our customers tremendous control, convenience and freedom in their Web communication experiences with Windows Live,” said corporate VP of the Windows Live Platform, Blake Irving.
A joint statement added that users of Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger “will be among the first to exchange instant messages across the free services as well as see their friends’ online presence, view personal status messages, share select emoticons, view offline messages and add new contacts from either service at no cost.”
Though both companies have been mum about a specific date for a wide release of this interoperability, they are safely maintaining that users of both services will be able to take advantage of this new capability in the months to come.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, AIM had 47 million unique users last month, while MSN claimed 28 million and Yahoo attracted 22 million. Both IM services, combined, have a total of 43 million unduplicated unique users.
This beta test could put further pressure on AOL to take steps towards interoperability for its own AIM, and could present yet another hitch in Google’s plans of pushing Google Talk up the popularity ladder.
Sources:
http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/
marketinginsider/wpn-50-20060713YahooMicrosoft
BeginIMTesting.html
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?
fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_
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http://www.internetnews.com/infra/
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