Yahoo Messenger bringing 3G video chat to iPhone, Android

Emil

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Staff

A new version of Yahoo Messenger with cross-platform video chat is headed to the iPhone and Android devices. David Katz, Yahoo' s VP of Mobile for the Americas region, recently told Reuters that the instant messaging app will work over both 3G and WiFi connections and freely conduct video calls with any other device running Yahoo Messenger, including webcam-equipped PCs.

Video calls are nothing new on smartphones: AT&T has been offering a limited form of video calling through its Video Share service for a while now, the Evo 4G and the iPhone 4 (WiFi-only) have been touting the feature even before they launched, and apps like Fring and Tango have also begun offering video calls. None of these is as big as Yahoo (81 million users), given that it's the second biggest IM network in the world (the first being Windows Live Messenger).

Skype is probably best known for its video calling features, but so far the company has avoided offering the service on mobile phones (though calling over 3G is a go). In other words, Yahoo will be the first mainstream messaging service to offer video calling across a wide range of devices. Expect Microsoft and Google to follow suit.

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I think the interesting thing here is so many people have yahoo and since it will work on andriod I would imagine the apple app store would want to allow it to work on 3g also and not have a crippled version of the software on there phone. Not really sure how they know it will work on 3G for the iphone unless yahoo has already talked to apple about this since it was my understanding video calling was only allowed on wifi right now.
 
I do not think MSN messenger will deploy on Android, considering they are toying with Phone 7 etc.
 
Guest said:
I do not think MSN messenger will deploy on Android, considering they are toying with Phone 7 etc.
Windows Live Messenger is already available for iOS, so I don't see why it shouldn't come to Android. The question is how long it will take MS to add video calling.
 
Check ReChat (Android chat): http://refineandroid.doodlekit.com/
- Facebook, Yahoo!®, Google Talk, basic Jabber/XMPP;
- multiple accounts at once;
- free SMS worldwide BETA (with replies for USA/Canada) with minor ad block;
- plain/bubble views. Customize avatar/font sizes;
- font packs (download separate apk to keep memory);
- send image/video;
- full Unicode support;
- favorites (always in contact list);
- customize income message notification: default sound/your sound file, LED, vibration, status bar notification;
- chat history. Export (email) selected messages, open chat messages, whole history for a contact, whole history for all contacts. Archive attachment with 7zip.

Facebook features:
- all non-chat permissions are revoked, customize period, "revoke now";
- upload image/short video (several share options);
- send image/short video to a contact (as private wall post);
- send message to a contact (as a private event or private wall post);
- set status message.

Google Talk features:
- showing total count of unread emails;
- marking contacts with unread emails;
- new email notification;
- list of unread emails subjects (without content);
- add/remove contacts.

Basic Jabber/XMPP features:
- add/remove contacts.
 
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