A handful of tech companies are finally pulling the plug on old products that are not quite catching on with the present tech age. Veteran instant messaging app –
Yahoo Messenger – is next on this list and will be shut down come July 17.
goodbye
Oath, owner of Yahoo,
announced that it will be winding down the service on July 17 as it continues to experiment and consider other ways to break into the messaging landscape alongside overlords like Facebook.
The company is not specific about its reasons for shutting down Messenger, but with the likes of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, Snapchat, WeChat, and even Slack, the prospects for Yahoo Messenger were quite gloomy.Messenger’s role and functions were swiftly surpassed by faster and more functional mobile-based services, and specifically mobile messaging apps.
the beginning
Yahoo Messenger made its debut as
Yahoo Pager way back in 1998, at a time when instant messaging was the terrain of PCs, as an alternative to email and SMS on basic mobile devices. It was an early hit all over the world.
“As the communications landscape continues to change over, we’re focusing on building and introducing new, exciting communications tools that better fit consumer needs.”
— Oath
Yahoo will allow users download their chat history on Messenger for the next six months by
going here. Files are downloaded to your computer or device.
Yahoo has also been beta-testing a new messaging service –
Squirrel – which they say will be open to the public when Yahoo Messenger shuts down.
