IM+ can't use Windows Live Messenger due to Microsoft policy

IM+ was submitted to the Marketplace today, and we are all excited for it’s arrival (see our hands on video tour). It just cannot get approved quickly enough. But the developers, Shape Services, announced today that it will not have Windows Live Messenger support. The reason? Microsoft doesn’t allow it. They are seemingly taking Apple’s approach, and not allowing apps that they think will duplicate functionality. Of course, that functionality doesn’t exist yet, so maybe there is something else going on that we don’t know about. It is worth nothing that IM+ for Windows Mobile also doesn't support Windows Live Messenger, so it's not an OS thing.

On one hand, we all know that WLM will be one of the built in services in Mango, so the support will be seamless, and most likely excellent. On the other hand, it sure would be nice to be able to use the service now. Although Skype has more users, Windows Live Messenger is no slouch, with an estimated 330 million active users, more than AIM or Gtalk (at least, according to Wikipedia). The sooner those users see feature parity with iOS and Android, the better.

Source: Tej Palladino Peters (Facebook); via: WMPoweruser