Jon Westfall
02-17-2006, 08:59 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060214-6181.html' target='_blank'>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...60214-6181.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Over the last year, Google has begun to force the unification of instant messaging protocols, first by selecting the open Jabber standard as the basis for their own Google Talk client, then by making plans to interoperate with AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ. Mobile phone service providers, on the other hand, have a strong tradition of animosity toward each other. One can't help but think that the cell phone companies must have been eyeing the Google initiative and wondering how much true interoperability among Internet IM clients may impact their text messaging business, especially as Wi-Fi becomes more common in big cities. This leads us to today's announcement that no less than 15 of the aforementioned service providers have joined forces to promote a global, interoperable, mobile instant messaging network. The service, offered under the name Personal IM, was introduced today at a press conference at the 3GSM World Conference in Barcelona. It has the dual advantage of not only offering users an additional feature on their cell phones, but an additional revenue stream to providers."</i><br /><br />Yet another IM network to deal with, yet this one may be unique enough given it's large cell phone company backing and native format of GSM, the dominant cellular phone infrastructure almost everywhere (not including the US). Does this sound like something you'd use?