With 80 million users, a direct interconnect to Microsoft's Messenger and the world going mobile Yahoo has taken a stab at making that very large community more connected with the launch of their new Mobile App for the iPhone and iPod touch. And is it ever sweet.
Right now I'm using my Yahoo DID for incoming calls to the iPod touch as if it was a phone. What's more with the iPhone I now have Yahoo video to anyone running Windows XP versions or later of Yahoo Messenger (sorry, no Mac version yet) as Yahoo is taking advantage of the phone number ala FaceTime to manage the set up, but using WiFi or 3G for video. That means between FaceTime and Yahoo there's a very big audience for video calling while on the move.
This is a clear over the top play, totally without any concern or desire for carrier or mobile operator involvement and is simply brilliant. Unlike Skype who have taken the approach of being mobile operator and handset manufacturer cooperative with Verizon, Three, RIM, Android, etc., Yahoo has basically said when it comes to mobile our ID is the key, not the mobile number. That makes the carrier's long term ownership of the customer irrelevant, something Skype has always been about up until their deal with Verizon.
For Yahoo, with a massive international user base the new Messenger Mobile App is a major step forward. Oh, and yes, it has awesome sound quality, and since it works on the iPhone there's a coolness factor that comes with it too. But there is one rub. Despite everyone else on the planet offering simultaneous logins, Yahoo still only lets you appear on one device. This means when you sign in on your Mac or PC you're signed out on the iPhone and vice versa. That's a small price to pay for low cost calling they offer via Jajah or the convenience of background IM on the go. That, plus Video means they have gone beyond Google, which has no app yet on the iPhone, AOL and even Apple for Apple has not yet connected FaceTime to iChat, which likely explains why the iPhone Y! Messenger doesn't yet connect to the Mac client either as the SIP based signaling likely isn't in the Mac Yahoo Messenger.
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