Yahoo! to push VoIP 'killer app' with IM update

Yahoo! is set to introduce a test version of instant messaging software that promotes VoIP communication and the internet media company's new social network.

Yahoo!, whose number two instant chat service has an estimated 65 million users, will offer a free update to Yahoo! Messenger during its test phase. In addition to letting people send standard instant text messages, the new version is designed to make it easy to call friends free via computer, send a short text message to a mobile device, share photos or post content to a personal web log.

Despite the bevy of updates, Yahoo! said it focused particularly on VoIP enhancements by placing a "click to call" button front and centre, by adding voicemail features and by optimising voice connections to and from those with broadband and those with dial-up.

Frazier Miller, director of Yahoo! Messenger, said in an interview: "Email was the killer application from the mid to late 90s, then instant chat came second, now VoIP is opening up the third chapter."

The move comes shortly after AOL, which boasts the number one chat service, began testing software that integrates voice, data, mobile and video communication. Both media companies are eyeing opportunities to leverage their large, loyal audiences to promote more usage of their network's services and help people grow accustomed to using VoIP and online video.

Miller said though Yahoo! has offered free voice calling since 1999, the company has only recently re-evaluated itself as a communications provider, outside of just servicing email and IM accounts. Video and voice are also key parts to the equation, he said. And as all of those forms of communication converge on IP networks, Yahoo! has the opportunity to be the go-to operator.

That's why in its new application, Yahoo! is trying to remove the roadblocks consumers experience when moving from one form of communication to another. For example, Yahoo! has created a contact card for subscribers to fill out and share with friends so that people can synchronise their address books.

Yahoo! also meshed the new application with Yahoo! 360, a social network featuring free blogs and content-sharing. The new tool lets people post content into their personal blog from the IM window.

Stefanie Olsen writes for CNET News.com