Wednesday, 15 November 2006

AOL Set to Upgrade AIM with Version 6.0

AOL will upgrade its AIM instant messaging service, with new features such as the ability to send messages to offline users and to store IM sessions in a PC. In AIM 6.0, AOL also has doubled the number of contacts a user can have in his 'buddy' list to 1,000 people.

AOL is involved in a cut-throat competition in the consumer IM market with rivals Microsoft and Yahoo, which recently established a basic level of interoperability between their IM networks.

AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo operate the three most popular consumer IM networks, but AIM users can't communicate with Microsoft and Yahoo users because each network operates with proprietary communication protocols. Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN Messenger) leads with 29 percent of users worldwide, followed by AIM with 27 percent, and Yahoo Messenger with 21 percent, according to The Radicati Group.

AIM 6.0, which requires either the Windows XP or Windows 2000 operating systems, can be downloaded for free.

More than 42 million messaging users are on the AOL Network. Over 30 million of these use AIM, the company said.