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Before Tweets, FB and iPhone, there was IM. And even after that, IM will be around for the billions around the world who want to chat while at their desktops, laptops and mobile.
Believe it or not, 10 years ago in July, Windows Messenger made its appearance and things haven’t quite been the same.
“We are really happy that users around the world have embraced Messenger” said Craig Law-Smith, Marketing Director, Online Services Group, Southeast Asia.
“It continues to be one of the favorite ways for people to stay in touch with the people who matter to them, simply because it’s just fun and easy to use.”
Back in 1999 the service first appeared as MSN Messenger and snowballed worldwide in just six months to 4.5 million users.
Today, there are more than 330 million active users and part of the reason could be the pervasiveness of Messenger which is available not just in 59 countries and 36 languages, but also on mobile phones with voice and video message options.
The strategy not to beat ‘em but join ‘em has also paid off for the Windows team with users able to link up with friends, family and everyone in between through popular networking social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
“The Windows Live Messenger offering is significantly more robust than ever before, with the introduction of features such as the What’s New feed, which allows our users to be constantly connected and updated through our partnerships with more than 20 social networking sites” said Law-Smith.
A decade since the arrival of Windows Messenger has seen more messaging services being offered by other providers, a move that can only be seen as the best form of flattery.
Looking to the next decade, the Windows team seems certain that Messenger could overtake Singapore’s current favourite form of communication – texting or SMS.
“Given that increasing numbers of consumers can now also use Windows Live Messenger on their mobile phones, we expect to see the number of instant messages sent daily to increase even further and eventually reach and overtake the daily number of SMSes sent by Singaporeans which currently stands at 60 million” says Craig Law-Smith.
Currently the chatter in Singapore through Messenger is about 51 million messages per day.
So the magic number for Windows Messenger is yet again, the perfect 10.
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