Yahoo! Messenger with Voice Introduces Custom Plug-In Features and Opens Up Its Platform to Developers

Yahoo! Inc. has introduced a new beta of its real time communications suite, Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, with custom plug-in features.

Plug-ins are free mini applications that can be easily added to the Yahoo! Messenger with Voice experience to make it that much more personal and interactive.

Additionally, Yahoo! Messenger with Voice has opened up its Application Program Interfaces (APIs) to encourage external and Yahoo! developers to build plug-ins for one of the largest consumer instant messaging (IM) communities worldwide.

With plug-ins, people will be able to take advantage of popular Web services right from Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, including an Amazon.com plug-in that lets users share their Wish Lists with friends and family and an eBay plug-in to stay on top of their bidding activity throughout the day.

In the beta version, a suite of third-party plug-ins will be available for Amazon.com, AmericanGreetings.com, Coupons, Inc., eBay, HedgeStreet, Inc., Jeteye, NewsGator Technologies Inc., Pando Networks Inc., 30Boxes, as well as plug-ins from Yahoo!'s leading Web services including Yahoo! Answers, Calendar, Finance, Music, News, Sports, 360.

Other additional enhancements include an increased friends list with up to 1000 contacts per account, sound effects, file transfer up to 1GB.

The beta version of Yahoo! Messenger with Voice is launching simultaneously in 19 localized versions around the world including: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Canada en francais, China, France, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States and Yahoo! en Espanol.