[2005-09-27] Rogers Wireless Premiers Yahoo! Messenger On BlackBerry
 

Rogers Wireless Premiers Yahoo! Messenger On BlackBerry

Sunnyvale, California, Toronto and Waterloo, ON -

Rogers Wireless, Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the availability of Yahoo! Messenger® on BlackBerry® for Rogers Wireless customers. The Yahoo! Messenger application leverages BlackBerry “push” technology to deliver a premier instant messaging (IM) experience for Rogers Wireless’ mobile customers.

“Rogers has a broad relationship with Yahoo! and a long, successful history providing BlackBerry in Canada, so we’re thrilled to extend the Yahoo! experience to our loyal BlackBerry customers with this enhanced communications solution,” said Raj Doshi, Vice President, Device and Product Management, Rogers Wireless. “Yahoo! Messenger and BlackBerry continue to grow in popularity as more customers seek ways to remain connected to people and information throughout the day. By offering Yahoo! Messenger services on BlackBerry devices, our mobile customers will enjoy a truly integrated communications experience, extending the popular desktop-based Yahoo! Messenger experience to BlackBerry, to accept and initiate conversations, regardless of location.”

Yahoo! Messenger services on the BlackBerry platform allow customers to access their existing Yahoo! contact lists, see which friends/colleagues are online, send and receive instant messages, have multiple conversations at once, participate in online conferences and even send and view emoticons. In addition, users will enjoy the same easy-to-use and familiar Yahoo! Messenger interface to invite, accept and reply to invitations into the Yahoo! Messenger community, as well as set a custom notification (e.g. a ringtune or vibration) that identifies when the user receives a new Yahoo! Messenger message.

“We are delighted to be working with Rogers Wireless and RIM to extend the Yahoo! Messenger experience to Rogers Wireless’ BlackBerry customers,” said Kerry Munro, General Manager, Yahoo! Canada. “Yahoo! Messenger is an essential communication tool for many Canadians and by extending it to BlackBerry devices, Rogers customers not only have another way to access the Yahoo! community but also have the freedom to keep using it while on the go.”

“BlackBerry devices and the BlackBerry platform are optimized to support an exceptional messaging experience, allowing users to remain connected to people and information while on the go,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. “We are pleased to work with Yahoo! and Rogers Wireless to extend the popular Yahoo! Messenger service to the push-based BlackBerry platform.”

Yahoo! Messenger continues to be a leader in the marketplace by bringing together the most relevant features into one comprehensive instant messaging suite, and providing the greatest choice for consumers to stay close to each other.This new mobile service requires that the user has a pre-existing Yahoo! username and password which consumers can obtain free of charge from Yahoo! Canada (www.yahoo.ca) and www.yahoo.com. Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet customers can use their Rogers Yahoo! username and password. To use Yahoo! Messenger on BlackBerry, customers can visit www.blackberry.com/YahooDownload to install the Yahoo! Messenger software onto a BlackBerry device and then set up a Yahoo! ID display name. More information on user instructions can be found at www.rogers.com/yahoomessenger and at www.blackberry.com/go/yahoomessenger.