Skype sets off IM love-in free-for-all

Internet telephone giant, Skype, has announced that it is opening up its IM client - Skype Instant Messaging - to enable it to be incorporated into websites and other internet applications. The company released two developer tools for this purpose, SkypeWeb and SkypeNet, on Wednesday.

Skype, which is based in Luxemburg, believes it can be a significant threat to instant messaging giants AOL, MSN and Yahoo!. With 51 million registered usernames, Skype IM is potentially twice the size of Yahoo!'s instant messaging community, and six times that of AOL, according to figures provided by Skype.

During a recent interview, Skype co-founder Janus Friis said: "Skype wants to embrace the rest of [the] internet."

AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo! representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Skype's Friis said he expects a large number of hardware and software makers to weave Skype's IM into their creations during the coming months. But he wouldn't identify any companies intending to do so.

He did offer hypothetical examples. Online gamers involved in massive multiple player mayhem could use Skype IM to taunt rivals and discuss strategy with teammates. Friis suggested that Skype's IM features could be incorporated into software-based media players for personal computers, websites for dating, blogging or "eBay kinds of auctions".

But there's one major drawback to Skype's new initiative: the manufacturers can't incorporate Skype's net phone features.

Since the company's launch on 29 August, 2003, nearly two years ago, there have been 12 billion minutes worth of Skype phone calls, in competition with mobile or landline networks.

A Skype spokeswoman said: "Voice is an emerging area of technology, we're watching it keenly and will help promote maturation. The demand and the interoperability existed for IM, and we acted."

The Skype moves come a few days before the second anniversary of Skype's first release. Since then, the number of people downloading its peer-to-peer phone software has surpassed historical numbers and download rates of internet killer apps, such as free, web-based Hotmail email or the Internet Explorer web browser.

Like most other providers of VoIP, Skype makes its primary product: software to make free calls to others over the internet. More than two million people pay a few pounds per month for tandem premium services that enable Skype calls to reach traditional home, office or mobile phones as well.

Ben Charny writes for CNET News.com