Earlier this week, Microsoft officially announced that it would be shutting off its Window's Live Messenger instant messaging (IM) service in all global markets except for the Chinese mainland, where the chatting tool remains relatively popular.

But if Microsoft wants to stay in China, it should act quickly to develop more value-added functions for Messenger and fix the persistent problems - such as unstable connectivity and an overemphasis on advertisement - which continue to pique detractors.

When Microsoft launched Messenger on the mainland in 2005, the service quickly caught on as there were few other well developed IM programs available in the country at that time. In the years since then though, things have changed dramatically and homegrown companies like China Mobile and Tencent have launched popular IM products of their own, which each feature rich arrays of supporting applications and services.

Unless Microsoft can stay ahead of local peers, it may soon have to pull its IM service from the mainland as well.

The author is Guo Yijun, a media personality.