Yahoo's European division and Lycos Europe will begin
sharing web chat and instant messaging technologies to cut costs
and reach a broader customer base.
The reciprocal distribution agreement for the communication
products, Yahoo Instant Messenger and Lycos Chat, launched in Italy
with a cobranded service based on the chat product by Lycos,
according to Sue Jackson, a spokeswoman for Yahoo Europe. The
service will be rolled out across Europe over the next few
months.
The agreement, which is an extension of the business alliance
between Yahoo Europe and Lycos Europe announced late last December,
will have two stages. In the first stage, Yahoo Europe will replace
its web chat service in Italy, the UK, France, Germany and Spain
with a cobranded service that will be provided and maintained by
Lycos. Yahoo will continue to provide a group communication service
through its Yahoo IM service.
In the second stage, Lycos Europe will then replace its IM
service in the same European countries with a cobranded service
provided and maintained by Yahoo. This service, which should be
fully available throughout Europe by the end of the year, will be
based on Yahoo's updated Messenger program launched in the US on 26
April.
Yahoo chat users will be able to keep their e-mail addresses and
registration information, but will have to reapply for a new chat
nickname. Yahoo estimates it has around one million European web
chat users.
The two companies are still determining what features will make
up the service, but multimedia is the focus of the new Yahoo
Messenger programme. Features in the US release include a larger
web video window for Super Webcam, support for up to 20 frames per
second with a broadband connection and the use of animated figures
called "Audibles" that play recorded messages and can be dropped
into an instant message.
It also provides improved integration with other Yahoo features,
for example allowing IM users to access Yahoo's Internet radio
music service, Launchcast Radio.
"Our research shows that customers want more web-based chat and
more multimedia. Lycos has a web-based client that is quite strong
and we are strong on the IM side," Jackson said. "We believe that
it makes sense for us to pool our resources and it will offer a
better experience for the consumer."
Financial arrangements between Yahoo and Lycos were not
disclosed and Jackson declined to give figures for expected cost
savings for the two companies.
Laura Rohde writes for IDG News
Service