We’ve removed audio from the equation, as it’s rarely convenient in today’s fast-paced world.” Our solution is to go back to the basics, by putting your words and your friend’s real-time reactions at the center of your interaction. “But somewhere, along the way we lost the natural flow of conversation. We’ve gone from communicating primarily with our voices to using our fingers to text on glass,” reads Livetext’s app description. “The advent of smartphones led a shift towards convenience and speed. Notes Yahoo, the idea is to turn simple conversations into memorable experiences, while also working to solve the problem of how to better express ourselves by not relying on typing alone: Instead of simply offering yet another alternative to a smartphone’s built-in mobile messaging app, Yahoo claims that Livetext is “an entirely new way to stay in touch.” With Yahoo Livetext, it’s clear that the company is hoping to differentiate its app, despite being a late arrival to this space, by introducing a twist on traditional texting or video. Meanwhile, Yahoo’s own entry in this crowded and growing mobile messaging market was left to stagnate. That leads to today, where most “instant messaging” happens on smartphones via SMS, iMessage and other popular apps like Facebook Messenger, Facebook-owned Whatsapp, Snapchat, and others. In the web’s younger years, Yahoo’s Instant Messenger app was one of the top ways web users could chat, along with other apps like MSN Messenger and ICQ, for example.īut as social media emerged and large platforms like Facebook began to dominate the space, Yahoo and other older online messengers lost significant portions of their core audience. It’s fair to say that, until now at least, Yahoo had missed opportunities to compete in mobile messaging, despite being one of the early companies to offer instant communication for desktop users. And the fact that it’s being tucked away on the Hong Kong App Store means that Yahoo was probably hoping to run a public-facing test of the app ahead of a more formal announcement and wider launch. That there’s now a version live on iTunes indicates that what we’re seeing today is likely close to a final product. Kicksend co-founder Pradeep Elankumaran joined Yahoo six months ago, for instance. And from what we understand Yahoo has also been working to try to poach people from other messaging and video app businesses to work on this product. Last year’s M&A spree included MessageMe, a team which was set to work on internal Yahoo messaging products. ![]() ![]() But it has also been making some interesting acquisitions to add talent and tech to develop what could become a new messaging product. It scrapped half a dozen versions or so that never emerged from internal testing. Yahoo has been working on a replacement for its mobile messaging application for many years. We have nothing further to share at this time,” a spokesperson told us, adding his own piece of silent video as punctuation: The idea is to offer a more natural form of communication where users can see each other’s reactions in real-time as they participate in conversations.Ĭontacted for a comment about the app, Yahoo provided this response: “We’re always experimenting with new product experiences that delight our users. The app went live earlier this month, and to bring something a little different to the table, it introduces a unique form of video texting that combines traditional text messages with video that doesn’t include an audio feed. Yahoo has quietly released the next version of its Yahoo Messenger mobile application, which is available under the name “ Yahoo Livetext – Video Messenger” in the Hong Kong iTunes App Store. Yahoo has been rumored to be working on a revamped messenger app for a while now, and it looks like that new app may be taking its first step into the wild.
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