RSSYahoo Launches New Messenger Beta
By Nate Mook | Published December 14, 2005, 1:45 PM
Yahoo late Tuesday released a beta version of Yahoo! Messenger 7.5, which includes the new inbound and outbound calling features it detailed last week. The client now allows users to place phone calls to over 180 countries, costing a penny per minute in the US and two cents to over 30 other countries.
In order to place calls, users must first purchase prepaid credit in either $10 or $25 amounts. The account can be automatically recharged from a credit card when necessary.
Conversely, the Yahoo! Phone In service enables callers to call a number and reach a Yahoo! Messenger user. The feature supports multiple telephone numbers, including the capability to choose international phone numbers. Phone In runs $2.50 USD per month.
"No matter where you are, as long as you're connected to the web, when someone calls that number it rings to your computer. It's great for home and work, plus for when you're traveling," says Yahoo.
The new feature comes the same day Microsoft released Beta 1 of Windows Live Messenger, which includes similar calling features through a partnership with MCI. Testers would pay $0.023 per minute to the U.S., Canada, and the U.K and Western Europe during the beta period.
Google, meanwhile, says it plans to add VoIP services to its Google Talk client in the future. The new offerings will attempt to take on Skype, which has taken the consumer VoIP space by storm in recent months.
But there is still uncertainty about whether consumers will adopt such fee-based services. While Skype has pulled in millions of users offering free PC-to-PC calling, merging the technology with traditional phone numbers has yet to prove popular.
"According to a recent JupiterResearch survey, just 2 percent of online consumers made PC-to-phone calls monthly or more frequently in the last year. Unlike many other online activities, 18-to-24 year olds aren't any more likely to make PC-to-phone calls," says Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox.
"Though 2.3 cents a minute isn't much, free is still cheaper. On the other hand, what's a couple pennies compared to nothing?"
Yahoo! Messenger 7.5 Beta is available for download from FileForum.
DialPad was crappy at that time.
Skype's quality is far superior than others, and even better than telephone.
Better compression technology and higher quality, that's for sure.
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|Well, to use Vonage you gotta have your internet... what if your internet dies and/or your electric goes out?
The only thing that can save you is probably the real landline and/or your cell phone... :)
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|Oui, deux methode:
Yahoo: 0,012 Euros is cheaper than
Skype: 0,017 euros
Ou:
Yahoo: 1,2 Euros cents is cheaper than
Skype: 1,7 euros cents
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|i'm really bad at maths
looking for the call prices in France can anyone confirms that
Yahoo: 0,012 Euros is cheaper than
Skype: 1,7 euros cents
http://www.skype.com/int...products/skypeout/rates/
http://fr.voice.yahoo.co...RBoVZ0ZZDDEux3#section5
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|I really don't understand the public's fascination with Skype. The voice quality is decent, but I would hardly call the program new or revolutionary. Free PC 2 PC calling has been around for almost a decade in various forms. The early and most popular clients at the time were CuSeeMee and Netmeeting. Many IM clients offer it for free as well.
I've been using Vonage for the last 10 months which literally gives you a dialtone over the internet. The phones Skype is offering are plastic and cheap in appearance, and still requires a PC. What the hell?
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|I agree, even I wonder what's so special about Skype apart from the underlying architecture its end use is the same as what Yahoo! & MSN messengers have been offering for ages.
I can only offer one explanation its the same thing that happend with the damn iPod, Creative and other brands came out first, but for some dumb reason they caught the publics eye.
All hail the sheep nations!
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|It's all about marketing.
Yahoo and MSN don't spend nearly as much on marketing of their FREE messengers then Skype spends on theirs.
Creative is a big name brand, but the Zen was just another product to them.
Apple is also a big name brand, but the iPod was something special to them. They spent a load of money marketing it. So naturally the other brands fade away.
IMO, based on what I've heard, the iPod has a load of problems (easily scrached screens, low battery life, etc)... I have none of these problems on my Creative Zen Touch.
I've taken a look at the Skype website before and it's turned me off. I prefer Instant Messaging (Gaim!) over voice chat anyway. Unless it's a video chat on a high speed connection, that is.
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|I'll go even one better than you on the whole free internet calling issue. Does anyone remember the early days of DialPad? I'm talking year 2000? I used that service to talk to my girlfriend at the time who was in New York on an internship. The best part...I called from my broadband-enabled PC, she talked through her phone. Sure there was slight lag, but the calls were decent, and it was free long distance. I miss those days.
Now people have figured out that they can charge for the service and that some people would be willing to pay for such a service. Screw that. I'm on Vonage because for $25/month I can talk to anyone in the US or Canada, from my phone to their phone, unlimited. Sure I pay for the service...but you have to have a landline if your cellphone dies, and $25 beats the $45+ SBC (excuse me, AT&T) charges for their service.
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|I also used to use it way back then, & voiceglo too-- got free headsets from them.
Vonage's too pricey-- you can get the N.America unlimited for under $10...and better, if you're willing to invest the time you can get it all for free: you can patch two different carriers-- one that offers free incoming with one that offers free outgoing...
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|The beta service does not work in US, it does not allow me to make calls from PC to phone. I already use Skype to make calls from PC to phone, it would be interesting to compare the 2.
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