AOL brings conference calls and presentations to AIM chat

By Steve Malone

Posted on 10 Jun 2004 at 14:53

AOL is to introduce premium services to its popular AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) service which will be targetted at business users. AIM Business Services is said to support audio conference calls and allow users to share presentations over the Internet.

The service has been launched in conjunction with California-based WebEx Communications Inc which allows customers to share applications such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop and video over the Internet. WebEx enabled meetings support real-time data, voice and video, and allow an unlimited number of participants to join the meeting, including non-AIM users.

Lightbridge supplies the teleconferencing services to AIM. Using the AIM Voice Conferencing, invitations can be sent via AIM to a PC or via AIM and SMS to a PDA or mobile phone. An 'AutoConnect' feature and mobile IM support enables business travelers to join in wherevet they are. No dial-in numbers or pass codes are needed.

The audio conferencing service is priced at around 15 cents per minute per user. The presentation areas of the service will cost an additional 33 cents a minute per user.

The new services are part of AOL's efforts to make money from its instant messaging services that are free to download and use and bring in only a relatively small amount of advertising. Developing premium business services is being seen as one way of monetising some of AOL's 36 million active users of AIM.

More details can be found at aimatwork.com.