CRI听力:Microsoft MSN Messenger Pulls out of China

Microsoft has just closed its instant messaging program, MSN Messenger, in China, a move that finally brought down the curtain on Messenger's 15 years of service worldwide.

Jiang Qiping, Secretary of Information Research Center of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explains Messenger's failure in the Chinese market.

"Most people would choose Tencent QQ over Messenger because they think QQ is more popular and easier to use. That caused the market share of Messenger to keep dropping in recent years. It had a good start at first because most web users are technicians and professionals. But as the internet becomes more popular, people would prefer something easier and more convenient. Besides, Messenger only supports the PC platform. It should have developed some apps for mobile platforms."

The company will move registered messenger accounts into Skype, a popular video-messaging service acquired by Microsoft in 2011, in a bid to keep its previous users.

Hotmail services will not be affected.

Microsoft reported that all Messenger services would be shut down in every country the service was running in, excluding China, in the first quarter of 2014.

MSN China was launched in 2005 with local partners.