Here’s something I have been waiting to say for a long time… Yahoo! Messenger: Fast, Easy, Beautiful, and now with no download!

Again, no download.

That’s right, today we launched the all-new Web-based Yahoo! Instant Messenger. In fact, it’s the first brand-new Messenger in over six years.

Yahoo! Messenger for the Web is live, and folks, it’s about to blow up. Feedback from initial users is so crazily positive, I expect this will become the primary IM service for millions. See for yourself at http://webmessenger.yahoo.com, or simply http://web.im.

By removing barriers for IMing, we’re about to witness a new and bigger life for Yahoo! Messenger. Chats will carry on from computer to computer, across campuses or cubes. Your friends will travel with you to Internet cafes around the globe. You no longer will need to maneuver around IT restrictions. And for the millions of Internet users who don’t own PCs, instant messaging is, with today’s launch, instantly available from any Internet-enabled computer. Wondering if this service is for you? Check out this quick demo to see it for yourself.

Hands down, the two most addictive features are message history (access and search archived conversations from anywhere!) and the emoticon picker. is my favorite, and if you can replicate this face in real life, I want to see it.

We went out of our way to support all the browsers — IE, Firefox, Netscape, Safari (I’ve been a Mac guy since 1984, so this was really important to me), and Opera (because we have a soft spot for Norwegians). I think this just might be the fastest, most refined Web IM app out there. And through our interoperability agreement with Windows Live Messenger, Web messaging users are able to connect with the largest community of IM users — 350 million user accounts!

I love the new Messenger so much that I went on my honeymoon in Southeast Asia without my laptop (for the first time in 15 years), knowing I could walk into any Internet cafe or jump on any airport computer and reach all my friends and family.

And since I am in Southeast Asia, I should mention that, for the first time, we are introducing localized versions of Messenger in Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam with this service.

I want to congratulate the whole team behind Project Pico, who did a fantastic job on this Web app. Our goal was to give the right experience to the right person at the right time. I know I speak for the over 12,000 Yahoo! employees around world, when I say, “Thanks for your great work.” Really, thanks.

Some code name trivia: Pico is smaller than Nano or Micro. Yahoo! Messenger for the Web is less than one-tenth the size of the downloaded client. It doesn’t have all the client features (like voice and webcam), but offers all the key communications and self-expressive features you need to be a messenger.

This isn’t the last you will hear from either the new Web Messenger team or the Messenger client team this year, so stay tuned … we’re just getting warmed up.

In closing, here’s one word that sums up how I feel about this new product, this whole new direction… Yahoo!

Jeff Bonforte
VP of Product Development, Yahoo! Messenger

Somewhere in Asia.