We all must be having Yahoo accounts with us. It provides the most common services like Mail and Fantasy Sports. Yahoo messenger among the first of its kind made its debut in 1998 as Yahoo Pager. It was an instant hit and popularized the idea of “over the top” messaging that was not tied to a specific service provider. But like other services in that first generation of messaging, Yahoo Messenger’s role and functions were swiftly surpassed by faster and more functional mobile-based services and more specifically mobile messaging apps.
A news broke out to the Yahoo messenger’s users when Oath which also owns TechCrunch announced the shutting down of the Messenger’s services from 17th July, 2018. Amid huge domination of Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Messenger, WeChat and other currently used messaging services it was highly dormant phase for Yahoo Messenger. So the company stated that it had to take the decision to wind up the services and experiment to sustain in the market.
As part of their experiment, they have come up with one invite-only group messaging app named “Yahoo Squirrel”. This app is currently into beta phase and the access can be requested from https://squirrel.yahoo.com. Yahoo stated that it had been very tough and hard for them to inform users about the shutting down of Messenger but they are continuously in the process of building and introducing new messenger services which fit for thecustomer needs. Users can download all their chat history in next six months in their laptops or PCsby going to https://login.yahoo.com/.
Oath along with its owner Verizon, is clearly going through a big shift both organizationally and strategically. The company also announced the stepping down of the CEO Lowell McAdam and to be replaced by CTO Hans Vestberg who also was the Ericsson ex-CEO. Last week, Oath announced Natalie Ravitz as its new communications head. It is also gearing up for a big video and content overhaul later this year, which could also be one of the reasons behind this Messenger news. Oath and its services are gradually sliding away from communications to what’s being buzzing around those networks.
We are surely waiting for the better Version of messenger from Yahoo. It is definitely “End of an Era”.
Discussion about this post