(27 August 2007 3:09 pm)

MUMBAI: Popular photo sharing site Yahoo! Photos is shutting down on 20 September, after which the currently stored images by users will be deleted. Yahoo! announced that it will now focus all its efforts on its other photo sharing site, Flickr.

Until then, users can buy a CD of their images for $6.95 or download original resolution images for free on their desktop.

Yahoo! said it will automatically move users' photos to the photo sharing sites of their choice namely Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, Snapfish, Photobucket amongst others.

"Of course, we hope you will join us at Flickr, but we also realize that Flickr may not be for everyone," said a Yahoo! official. "In the end, we want you to find the service that's right for you, and we hope you take some time to learn more about your options before making this important decision."

Yahoo! Photos is a more conventional photo-sharing site, full of family snapshots, while Flickr has a high user base of amateur and professional photographers who share digital photos online. comScore data supplied by Yahoo! in 2006 states that Yahoo! Photos had 30 million registered users, who had uploaded 2 billion photos as of June 2006.

The company said that Photos features such as Yahoo! mail, Yahoo! messenger and mobile web will also end and users will no longer be able to access their photos from these services.