Yahoo! to launch “Phone Out” service through Messenger

Yahoo, following the lead of the world’s premier VoIP service provider, Skype, will offer a new phone service that allows Yahoo Messenger users to make and receive calls from computers to phones.

The service, scheduled to be launched in the next few days according to Reuters, will include a “Phone Out” service that will allow calls from computers to phones, and a low-cost subscription service called “Phone In” which connects a telephone user to a PC user.

The calling plans will differ from country to country, but PC-to-PC calls among Yahoo users will be free.

The “Phone Out” feature will enable callers to call from their U.S. PCs to public switched telephone network subscribers for a penny a minute to U.S. destinations and about two pennies to other countries.

The “Phone In” feature is priced about $30 a year and enables a subscriber to receive incoming calls after picking a phone number. Subscribers can select a personal phone number and receive incoming calls at no additional charge.

To encourage the use of its phone services, Yahoo said that for a limited time it would offer a free headset to users who sign up for its “Phone Out” program.

The service, which will be available in 180 countries, will constitute Yahoo’s attempt to reclaim momentum in the VoIP market that has been taken by eBay’s Skype subsidiary.

Yahoo currently offers voice application enhancements to its instant messaging software, but the new service will be more of a full-fledged voice application.

The service and its linkage to other Yahoo features are largely based on technology developed by a team from Dialpad, which Yahoo acquired last year.