Yahoo has announced the launch of two types of voice services, “Phone Out” and “Phone In,” on personal computers (PCs), allowing users to make calls from their PCs to regular phones and receive calls on their PCs.
The “Phone Out” service enables users to make calls from their PCs to landlines and mobile phones in over 180 countries. The service fee is set at 0.001 USD per minute in the United States and less than 0.02 USD per minute in more than 30 countries including Argentina, Australia, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and South Korea. Prepaid cards will be available in denominations of 10 USD and 25 USD.
The “Phone In” service allows users to receive calls on their computers from landlines or mobile phones for a fee of 2.99 USD per month or 29.90 USD per year. Additionally, users can choose a phone number from another country, enabling callers from that region to incur only domestic calling charges.
Moreover, a search toolbar for the contact list will assist users in easily finding the people they need to contact and reaching out to them via instant messaging (IM), voice calling, email, or mobile texting. Notably, the “Open Talk” feature will maintain a direct connection with just a click on the icon, allowing users to initiate calls from PC to PC effortlessly.
This new service’s trial version will be released simultaneously with the launch of seven internal versions in countries including the United States, Spain, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, and Germany. However, Yahoo representatives have not yet disclosed a specific timeline for the trial release.
