Microsoft,France Telecom's Orange Launch Orange Messenger"
PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Microsoft and France Telecom's mobile phone subsidiary Orange Wednesday launched a new instant messaging service for PCs and mobile phones called Orange Messenger using Microsoft's Windows Live software.
In a press conference in Paris, in the presence of Didier Lombard, chief executive of France Telecom and Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, the two companies said that Orange Messenger will be launched in France in December this year and in other European countries in 2007.
Orange Messenger will allow users to be always connected to their contacts, on the PC and on the mobile phone, the groups said.
The new service "will enable the 135 million France Telecom European customers -served by Orange or another brand- to smoothly interact with 240 million worldwide Windows Live Messenger users", the two companies said in a joint statement.
"This is the first time that two leading software and telecommunications companies have joined forces to offer an instant messaging service that can be accessed from both PC and mobile devices, and is marketed under their respective brands," they added.
The product is a step towards convergence for telephone and software business, said France Telecom's CEO Didier Lombard.
"We're heading towards convergence," he said, adding he hopes it will help France Telecom combat its biggest challenge: the rotation of clients between telephone service providers.
Didier Lombard declined to comment on tariffs and whether the fees would be fixed or would be depending on use.
The service is "not exclusive with France Telecom even if we're doing the pioneering work here" in France, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer said.
In July 2005, France Telecom/Orange and Microsoft announced a strategic alliance agreement for the co-development of multimedia products and services for the customers of both companies.
By Mimosa Spencer and Geraldine Amiel, Dow Jones Newswires; +331 40171740; mimosa.spencer@dowjones.com;
(END) Dow Jones Newswires "
Posted to the site on 18th October 2006