Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) launched its messenger service MSN nearly 15 years back, and now the company plans of ending its Windows Messenger app. This will help the company to focus more and allocate more resources to the voice calling service ‘Skype,’ which also serves as internet chat service. In October 2011, Microsoft spent $8.5 billion for acquiring Skype.
Microsoft to focus on Skype
October will be the last month for the 15-year old service popularly known as Windows Messenger app or MSN Messenger.. To battle the competition from AOL’s AIM service, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) had launched the MSN Messenger service in 1999. An email has been sent by the company to all the subscribers of its chat service across the world informing them of its plans of shutting it down.
MSN Messenger’s popularity grew slowly and gradually. As it grew, many additions were made to the features that include custom emoticons, games and a nudge feature that shakes the chat window.Windows Live Messenger was the name given to the service after its rebranding in the year 2005 by Microsoft. According to the data available, there were 330 million active monthly users of Windows Live Messenger service five years ago.
Chinese getting incentive
About a year ago, an official announcement was made by the company informing its plans of closing the service. The company is doing this with an aim of diverting its MSN Messenger users to its using Skype, which is a free internet chat and voice call service. The company has plans of shifting all the Windows Live Messenger subscribers to the freemium ‘Skype’ service as informed by them in January 2013.
In April, last year, Microsoft started working on shutting down the service and this process was planned to be executed in phases across the globe. The process of closing down MSN will be complete by 31st October with the service being available in China only till then. The Chinese MSN users who choose to switch to Skype will get a credit of $2 from the company as an incentive. Guangming Founder and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) are jointly operating Skype in China.
