Yahoo! IM - Message In a Browser

Yahoo! is making available a new version of IM that runs in a browser rather than having users download separate software. Yahoo hopes to cater to the millions of people who access the Internet via cafes rather than home based PC's around the planet.

According to this news from Yahoo, the eventual ability to allow rapid fire text communication ala MySpace, Facebook and others will help the company transform into more of a social networking type platform. Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo's VP of communication gave no indication of a timeline for the eventual transformation of Yahoo, but this seems like the logical next step for old smiley.

The new Yahoo service will be available initially in Brazil, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and in the US. Yahoo IM is the most popular service in the thriving Indian market already and the company hopes almost half of Internet users there log on from Internet cafes.

The Internet as a static experience is giving way to Web pages that act more like independent desktop applications and Yahoo is positioning itself to fit into the changing Web culture. One of the coolest features of the new IM will be the ability to manage 10 or more simultaneous conversations in just one window.

Yahoo is currently the second leading worldwide IM service with roughly 88 million users, while AOL's AIM is number one in the US and MSN Windows Live is the most popular internationally.

I have to say the new service is an interesting and tasteful addition to Yahoo's tool bucket. The screen below illustrates one rendition of the utility in action. The Beta will obviously go through some transformation, but this initial offering simplifies the IM process already. My mashup displays my Yahoo messenger in a separate window atop a post I wrote at Profy. I have suggested that they embed the IM window within the current browser as this would be a great deal more attractive.

The utility is very good for this new gizmo and users can access their “My Yahoo” pages directly via new window or search the Web from inside as well. There is also a history aspect that allows for reviewing messages that some will find useful. Yahoo will certainly improve on this new utility and personally I think it is a great addition for them and me, since I have used the little smiley guy since he came out.

Yahoo, the old grandpa of the Internet still has a few tricks up their sleeves. This is a good thing, now if they will just come out with a knockout punch. Below is the result of a search via the Yahoo Web IM search bar inside the new browser application version. That little kid is me.