Yahoo Announces a Web Based Version of Messenger

Yahoo has launched a web based version of it's popular instant messenger program. Yahoo has done away with the need to actually download the application though consumers still have that option.

In order to keep the program light and mailable Yahoo Messenger for the Web does not support video, file transfers or voice communications.

In contrast, Yahoo Messenger for the Web has several features that the PC version doesn't have including tabbed windows and the ability to save conversations on Yahoo servers.

Messenger for the Web supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Netscape web browsers and most likely cannot be blocked by your employers IT department.

Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo's senior vice president in charge of communications, talked about the new initiative.

"Too many people have been restricted from benefiting from this type of communication. We certainly think about the opportunity where social networking and real-time IM communications intersect."

This new platform will eventually allow immediate instant messenging from social networking communities like MySpace.

Garlinghouse said,"We certainly think about the opportunity where social networking and real-time IM communications intersect."

Brazil, India, Malaysia, Philippines, the United States and Vietnam are the first countries to use the platform. Other countries will be added within the next year

Yahoo is most widely used IM service in India. According to FOXNews.com, 46 percent of Indian consumers log in from Internet cafes. The program is also the extremely popular in Vietnam and the Philippines where 80 percent of consumers use Yahoo Messenger.

Yahoo Messenger is the #2 IM platform in the world with 88.5 million users

The web based messenger is also compatible with Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger like the PC version of the platform.

"The Internet is evolving from a static experience where a Web page is just a Web page to where Web pages behave more like traditional desktop computer applications," Garlinghouse said.

Rebecca Swensen, IDC analyst, believes the innovation will add to the blurring lines of internet communication.

"All these guys are laying the foundation for an online communications platform for users"

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