IM Use Climbs

When Sprint PCS announced it would begin delivering AOL's Instant Messenger Service, the company's COO, Charles Levine, referred to instant messaging (IM) as the next transformation in wireless. The current popularity of tethered IM services provides a clue that Levine might be correct.

A recent research report by Jupiter Media Metrix revealed that Yahoo Messenger gained 10.6 million users between its introduction in June 1999 and August 2000. MSN Messenger Service subscribers grew to 10.3 million between its July 1999 launch and August 2000. And AOL Instant Messenger, which was introduced in May 1997, racked up a subscriber base of 21.5 million by August 2000.

But will interest in wireless-IM prove equally impressive? The folks at Microsoft appear to think so. In July, Microsoft announced that its IM service would be available to MSN mobile subscribers, which, according to the company, reached 1.5 million by mid-October.

Cingular Wireless recently announced that its California and Nevada customers can send IM via the MSN platform. Cingular plans to offer the service in other markets early this year.

The folks at AOL said more than 61 million people have registered for its IM services.

"Together with AOL's 25 million members, they are exchanging more than 656 million instant messages each day," said Kristie Cunningham, AOL spokesperson.

AOL doesn't segment statistics for wireless users, but Cunningham said consumers want to send e-mail and IM while on the go.

Wireless carriers have indicated a similar faith. In addition to Sprint and Cingular, Bell Mobility, AT&T, Motient and Verizon have rolled out some form of IM services.

The executives at WebLink Wireless are so convinced that wireless messaging will be huge that they've spent the last six years and about $600 million building out their 2-way data network, according to Eric Van Steenburg, WebLink public relations manager.

"We know that paging is not the future," Van Steenburg said. "But we do know that short messages, instant messages and wireless e-mail is the future."

Although WebLink has it own brand of IM, the company recently partnered with Yahoo to offer the Internet portal's IM service. It's not up and running yet. But once it is, Yahoo's IM subscribers will be able to transmit messages via WebLink's network.

Also, Steenburg said he thinks that IM will extend into the business community.

David Wonderling, Motient public relations manager, also suggested that businesses will adopt IM as a form of communications. Wonderling said his company doesn't market the service to business users specifically, but places print advertisements in venues such as Delta Sky magazine and USA Today as a way to reach corporate and consumer readers.

When asked what value IM would bring to the wireless world, Becky Zivney, Microsoft spokesperson, responded.

"MSN Mobile is excited to work with carriers to provide consumers more services and features over the wireless Web," she said.