Yahoo Messenger is shutting down on July 17, redirects users to group messaging app Squirrel

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
It the end of an era for Yahoo Messenger, one of the first instant messaging apps on the market that introd
Today, Oath (which also owns TechCrunch) announced that it would be winding down the service on July 17 as it continues to experiment and
consider how and if it can have a relevant place in the messaging landscape amid huge domination from Facebook and others in mobile
apps. &There currently isn&t a replacement product available for Yahoo Messenger,& the company writes
&We&re constantly experimenting with new services and apps, one of which is an invite-only group messaging app called Yahoo Squirrel
(currently in beta).& Squirrel is a group messaging app Yahoo started testing last month
You can request access to the beta here. Yahoo has not broken out active users of Messenger for some time, and theoretically anyone logged
into any Yahoo property is logged into Messenger
Cumulatively over the last 20 years, hundreds of millions of people have used the service, the company said
The company says your Yahoo ID remains intact for other services like Mail and fantasy sports. The company is not specific about its
reasons for shutting down Messenger, but the writing has been on the wall for some time, given the dominance today of Facebook WhatsApp and
Messenger, Snapchat, WeChat and a number of others.Notably, Oath also shut down AIM, AOL equivalent messaging app, in October. &We know we
have many loyal fans who have used Yahoo Messenger since its beginning as one of the first chat apps of its kind,& it notes
&As the communications landscape continues to change over, we&re focusing on building and introducing new, exciting communications tools
that better fit consumer needs.& Alongside that, the company, as a part of Oath, is now owned by Verizon, the telecoms behemoth
Ironically, it the telcos of the world whose revenues have been cannibalised in part by over-the-top messaging services, although Yahoo
Messenger demise is far likely less related to that, considering that it is not one of the most popular services on the market today. Yahoo
says that you can download your chat history on Messenger for the next six months by going here
Files go to your computer or device — but not specifically to another messaging app. Yahoo Messenger first 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 and popularised 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, Messenger role and functions were swiftly surpassed by faster and more functional
mobile-based services, and specifically mobile messaging apps
Notably, WhatsApp was created by ex-Yahoo employees. In the years since, Yahoo has had moderate (but far from blockbuster) success with
Yahoo Messenger on mobile, which today ranks at 160 oniOSand 117 onAndroidin the social networking category, according toApp Annie
Other attempts atbuilding new messaging productshavebeen short-lived. Oath, and its owner Verizon, are clearly in the midst of a big shift
organizationally and strategically
The company today also announced that Lowell McAdam would be stepping down as CEO of Verizon, to be replaced by Hans Vestberg, the Ericsson
ex-CEO who has up to now been Verizon CTO
Last week, Oath announced its latest leadership change, hiring Natalie Ravitz as its new communications head. It also gearing up for a big
video and content overhaul later this year, which could also be one of the reasons behind today Messenger news
Under new owner Verizon, Oath and its businesses are gradually shifting away from communications services to focus more on what being
whizzed around those networks. More to come.