The worldwide roll-out of Yahoo Messenger with Voice came a day after Microsoft launched its next-generation online messaging service with new features like Internet telephony, group searching, and file and photo sharing.
While Yahoo officials said that the timing was happenstance, the company is in an ongoing battle with Microsoft and Google for the loyalty of users whose Website visits translate into revenues in the form of advertising dollars.
People can personalize Yahoo's new IM service with plug-ins, mini-software applications that enable users to easily do Web tasks such as check eBay auctions or scan a friend's wish-list at online retailer Amazon.com.
"It's a great way to find that perfect gift, or to learn what your friends are interested in," Yahoo spokeswoman Terrell Karlsten said. "We collaborated closely with Amazon and eBay."
A "conversational plug-in" dubbed Event Finder enables those using the IM service to share maps in real time to collaborate about things like meeting at a restaurant or going to the theater.
"It's very interactive," Karlsten said.
As of Tuesday, there were 100 plug-ins available worldwide to customize Yahoo's IM service, with options varying in different locations, according to Karlsten.
Yahoo opened the IM platform so that programmers anywhere could see how it works and improvise plug-ins that could be shared with the world.
"We want innovators and developers to make cool mini-applications for our Yahoo Messenger users," Karlsten said. "Bring it on."
Another plug-in lets Yahoo IM users compare appointment calendars in real time as well as view their blog and photo Web pages.
"The new plug-ins for Yahoo Messenger with Voice empower people to create the communications experience they want, by giving them a way to customize their IM service with their favorite web features and services," said Brad Garlinghouse, senior vice-president of Communications, Community and Front Doors at Yahoo.
"We are inviting developers to use Yahoo Messenger with Voice's plug-in technology in new and creative ways and believe that our tens of millions of users worldwide will benefit from industry-wide innovation as a result."
Among the enhancements built-in by Yahoo was the ability to pipe music or sound effects such as an audience booing or birds chirping into IM telephony on the Internet.
Sunnyvale, California, based-Yahoo also upped the size limit on file transfers by tenfold, to a gigabyte, to handle larger document and photos sent via IM.
Localized versions of Yahoo Messenger with Voice were launched in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.
© 2006 Agence France-Presse
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