两家公司可能会在周三早上(美国时间)宣布此次合作.MSN Messenger和Yahoo Messenger的用户将有可能无缝发送即时信息.这个举动对目前即时通信业的老大AOL构成威胁.AOL的即时通信用户达到了5千1百万(美国境内),而MSN Messenger用户有2千7百万,Yahoo Messenger用户有2千2百万.
以下是英文原文.
SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. have agreed to make their two instant-messaging programs work together, a partnership that could threaten market leader America Online, people familiar with the situation said.
The deal was expected to be announced early Wednesday, these people told The Associated Press. One of them works closely with Microsoft. The other was briefed on the deal. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose details.
A Yahoo-Microsoft partnership, allowing users of the competing services to exchange messages seamlessly, would give the two companies nearly as many users combined as AOL has in total.
AOL's instant-messaging product, AIM, had some 51.5 million unique U.S. users in September, compared to about 27.3 million for the competing MSN Messenger and 21.9 million for Yahoo's Messenger, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
AOL's instant-messaging product, AIM, had some 51.5 million unique U.S. users in September, compared to about 27.3 million for the competing MSN Messenger and 21.9 million for Yahoo's Messenger, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.