Yahoo Messenger new plug-ins and Yahoo Finance

After AOL's AIM and eBay's Skype, Yahoo Messenger is the third-most-popular instant communication service and after Microsoft's announcement today of its new instant messenger, it seems Yahoo wants to at least keep its place.

The new versions of Yahoo Messenger that include the new plug-ins are being released in 20 different languages.  The new plug-ins will allow users to share different Yahoo services such as calendar and maps for event planning for example.  Third party plug-ins such as the Amazon plug-in would let users see each other's Amazon wish-list and the eBay plug-in can assist in tracking live auctions and listings.

Without a doubt, these third-party plug-ins give Yahoo a definite competitive advantage.

Still in good news territory, Yahoo kept its position at the top of the personal finance space with 34.9% of the market share according to Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service.  Microsoft's MSN Money was second with 13.67% share and Time Warner's CNN Money, 4.5%. MarketWatch was a distant fourth and Google Finance accounted for only 0.28%.

Microsoft, in addition to the MSN brand, integrated the content of CNBC into MSN Money while Time Warner benefits from the CNN brand, as well as its magazines. Google Finance was only released in March, but it seems it doesn't come close to Yahoo Finance and the features it offers.  Yahoo Finance aggregates content and up-to-the-minute  information from third-party providers. At least in Yahoo Finance, it seems Google isn't a serious threat.