New Yahoo! Messenger has enhanced IP Tel capabilities

This morning, I've been playing with the brand-new version of Yahoo! Messenger.

Just released a few hours ago, Yahoo! Messenger With Voice has upgraded IP phone capability- far more extensive than the hitch-a-ride over IM functionality characteristic of this and other IM programs.

This new capability comes in two flavors. Both are accessed via the newly expanded Actions tab:

Call Computer lets you, well, call other PCs similarly equipped with Yahoo! Messenger.

Place A Net2Phone Call brings up a Call Center softphone. Dialing rates range are 2 cents a minute in the U.S. and 3.9 cents a minute in Canada. Foreign per-minute rates are generally slightly higher than some other softphone services.

Given that Yahoo! announced its purchase of softphone provider DialPad two months ago, I have to wonder if or when Yahoo! Messenger With Voice's existing Net2Phone softphone partnership and UI will be replaced with a DialPad interface.