Adieu MSN Messenger - service to be discontinued in final market China
Microsoft is set to close its Microsoft Live Messenger service, formerly called MSN, in its final market of China this October in a bid to integrate users with Skype, according to reports from Dongfang Daily.
The service was started in 1999 at the advent of the internet
As a result of the China closure, the MSN Messenger will be officially dead worldwide, news that will likely upset the 90s kids who grew up with the once flourishing service.
In the age of WhatsApp, the fifteen year-old MSN is considered a digital relic now, wits further competition from communications apps like Vine and Snapchat. It's discontinuation in China is part of an over-arcing Microsoft initiative to attract users to Skype.
Migrating users will be offered a coupon providing a limited duration of free video calls. It is worth noting that MSN's userbase is dwarfed by other, more modern apps.
Tencent’s QQ Messenger, China’s most popular service, last year it reported a staggering 825m monthly users, worldwide MSN only had 100m - a substantially lower now.
Chinese users received an email from Microsoft - via Google translate - which said: “This is true. Your Messenger service will be closed October 31, 2014, 60 days from now, but do not worry, your contacts will not be lost and you will be able to use Skype, Messenger also supports original account and contact.”
The service was discontinued throughout the rest of the world in March this year, with China lagging behind by six months.