In May, ICQ is planning to launch video functionality for its client through an Xtraz add-on, said Ronen Arad, director of product management at Israel-based ICQ. New features in Version 4.0, including games and a greeting card sender, also are being delivered through the Xtraz approach, officials said. ICQ already has begun making the ICQ API available to partners, including online dating site LavaLife Inc. Users can pick and choose the Xtraz features they want and use them without needing to update the client, an approach that will reduce the number of new client releases for users, said Orey Gilliam, ICQs general manager. The new features then integrate into the client and are dynamically loaded from ICQs server.

Using an open application programming interface (API), developers can create ICQ Xtraz in Flash, HTML or DHTML. ICQ 4.0 includes the introduction of a platform called ICQ Xtraz through which ICQ, partners and eventually users can create and deliver new features and services to the IM client. In a move that opens its instant-messaging client to developers, America Online Inc.s ICQ division on Tuesday is launching its latest ICQ client with a new approach for adding features.

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