By Sharla Sikes

Tokiva announced what it claims is the world’s first IM-to-call service. Built on its open mobile communications platform, the service is available for MSN, Yahoo!, AOL and GTalk instant messaging services.

No software downloads are required to use the service. After accepting an invite to add Toronto-based Tokiva to their buddy lists, users can send an instant message to Tokiva to initiate the call. Tokiva then connects the user’s phone—land or mobile—with the number they’ve chosen, using Tokiva’s global VoIP network. Tokiva claims “tens of thousands” of users already, with the beta version having only launched in January.

“Tokiva users tend to be on IM systems all the time. Tokiva IM-To-Call service is a natural extension to what the IM users are already doing—communicating in real time with their friends worldwide,” said Tong Li, founder and CEO of Tokiva Inc. “Tokiva is connecting text based IM systems with voice based phone networks in a simple yet powerful way.”

Tokiva hopes its product will be a “natural extension” of the current communication methods of those who use IM programs frequently—some 90 million people, according to figures from ComScore Media.

Tokiva has plans to support QQ Messenger, the top system in use in China, later this year.

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