Reliance-Yahoo introduce mobile instant messanger

Bangalore, Jan 19 (UNI) Reliance Communications and Yahoo India have come together to offer Yahoo Instant Messenger (IM) for Reliance mobile customers across the country.

The alliance marked a powerful partnership of a leader in the mobile space with the leader in the internet space to offer the rich, live IM PC experience on Reliance Mobile phones, a Yahoo India release here said today.

With this first of its kind initiative, Reliance Communications was the first telecom service provider in the world to offer Mobile IM across Java, BREW and WAP phones on a mobile operator network.

The release said customers could send instant messages and chat online using all the Yahoo IM features such as simultaneous multi-chat windows, presence status icon, emoticons, Yahoo personal contact list, profile and viewing offline messages.

Reliance was bridging the digital divide by extending the internet-rich IM experience of the PCs to its mobile subscribers for the first time in India. ''This brings us one step closer towards convergence of mobiles and PCs'', according to Mr Mahesh Prasad, President - Applications, Content and Solutions Group, Reliance Communications.

Yahoo India Managing Director George Zacharias said the unique service would add a new dimension in enhancing user experience and providing yet another compelling way to stay connected, instantly and at all times.

Yahoo IM service client interface for Reliance was developed by ACL Wireless.

UNI