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Yahoo puts 10,000 free IM texts onto 3 phones? Or is that "3's" phones?

How many instant messenger texts do you send a month? Is it likely to be more than ten thousand? in that case, you may not be impressed by the deal Yahoo and 3 UK just struck. "From this week, Yahoo! Messenger users will be able to enjoy non-stop, unlimited chat with friends wherever they are, using their 3 mobile," they announced today.

Fair use limit kicks in if you transmit more than ten K messages.

The announcement makes for confusing reading. For example: a Windows service already exists, since 3UK launched IM with Window’s Live Messenger a year ago, which allowed the PR machine to say: "In the month of June alone, 3 customers sent 133 million messages between their "buddies" using the service on their mobile."

In fact the three customers are not three: they're "3 UK" customers; with YM and WL together, the company now reckons there are 16 million potential users, not just three. If you follow...

All of 3's 3.9 million customers are able to take advantage of free Yahoo! Messenger "for life on selected handsets" on all 3's Pay Monthly plans, and until the end of 2007 on all Pay As You Go plans.

That fact points to the strategy as being aimed at increasing contract subs, rather than a simply anti-churn tactic. Instant messaging is ideal data for mobile phone carriage, being normally very very small amounts of data, but requiring "always on" connectivity.