New Avatars of Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging is hot business. MSN Messenger, ICQ, AOL’s AIM and Yahoo’s IM program are competing to attract millions of computer users who want the ability to communicate online at quick speeds, without many of the hassles of e-mail exchanges. In India the biggest two portals also have it, rediff.com and indiatimes.com. In a report, “IM: The Sleeping Giant,” technology consultant Gartner Group predicts that by 2005, instant messaging will surpass e-mail as the primary online communications tool.

In the past 2 weeks all the three major players have upgraded their IMs. On 26th April, Yahoo will launch a new version of its instant-messaging software, just days after similar moves by rivals America Online and Microsoft.

MSN – more bells and whistles
Microsoft had recently launched its messenger with many added services. Just last week Microsoft introduced a new subscription service for playing games using its MSN Messenger instant messaging software. There are currently 120 million users using the MSN Messenger service.

ICQ – a more personalized experience
Last week AOL launched the new version of ICQ. Named ICQ 4.0, it is designed to let consumers personalise service and allow developers to access the software’s application programming interfaces (APIs). New features include a multifunction message window, birthday alerts, new games and the capability to forward messages to cell phones. ICQ currently has 180 million registered users.

Yahoo Messenger – a new avatar
Called “The All New Yahoo Messenger” it is an upgradation of its previous version. According to cnet.com the upgrade is one of its most dramatic makeovers to date. On the looks front, the software looks similar to MSN Messenger in its ability to display digital photos or play a round of checkers in the messenger chat window. An interesting addition is the Avatar display option. These are cartoon images that people can customize with different appearances, outfits and backgrounds to reflect their moods. The messenger will have a new look and feel that focuses more on graphics and animation. The service also has folded in features pulled from other areas of Yahoo’s Web site, such as photo sharing, the address book, user-to-user video games, Internet radio from its Launch subsidiary, and online search results.

The total market of IM users is over 400 million users worldwide. Consider the benefits, instant personalized communication for the IM users, personalized advertisement delivery and value added benefits for the advertisers. IMs seems just the right way of communication for both – between the advertiser and the prospect and between peers. The new avatars of IMs have been an addition of bells and whistles perhaps to attract a whole lot of newbies. The real fun would be when we see the innovative convergence of IMs and mobile phones with fully loaded GPRS, MMS and other hybrid messaging.