On February 10, 1999, Tencent launched its first instant messenger. It was called OICQ, short for Open ICQ, after the existing messenger ICQ. It took over the functions of ICQ and added skins, user pictures and emoticons.
In 1999, AOL, which owned ICQ, complained that the domain names oicq.com and oicq.net infringed its rights. An arbitration panel gave the domains to AOL in March 2000. In April, Tencent renamed its program Tencent QQ. In June 2000, a mobile version was built into SIM Toolkit cards for phones.