*Wireless Instant Messaging: a 'Killer App' for the Mobile Information Appliance Market. Mobile Insights Forecasts Instant Messaging Market to Reach 175 Million Users by 2002
[Note: I think this is a significant announcement for G* for the long-term (especially the G-2 2nd gen). PC users (especially younger folks) and soon cell users have/will become addicted to instant access to anyone anywhere. But, what happens when you get outside of cell range or in the numerous dead zones? Just a thought, djane]
Wednesday July 28, 6:18 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 1999-- Mobile Insights (MI), the leading information source for
the mobile computing and data communications markets, today announced that the worldwide market for instant messaging
will grow to 175 million users by 2002. Instant messaging, sometimes referred to as online ''buddy lists,'' is used by over 50
million PC-based users and is now becoming available to users of handheld computers and mobile phones.
This technology allows users to view a listing of people with whom they frequently communicate, determine if these people are
currently available, and send/receive messages instantly. Instant messaging created somewhat of a cult following of savvy
Internet users when it was launched two and a half years ago. It is now a mainstream Internet application with a variety of
PC-based versions such as America Online's (AOL) Instant Messenger; Mirabilis' ICQ (I Seek You), recently acquired by
AOL; and a host of others from the likes of Yahoo!, Microsoft and Excite. Instant messaging is growing at a phenomenal rate.
Mirabilis, pioneer in this field, grew its user base to 12 million users in less than two years and now has over 38 million users.
This user community has grown primarily by word-of-mouth, and according to America Online, its Instant Messenger
application and Mirabilis' ICQ have a combined user base of 63 million users sending over 750 million messages a day.
Versions of ICQ have been available for the Palm Pilot and Windows CE-based handheld PCs, but have not been widely
used because integrated wireless communications -- the critical missing link for this technology -- has been slow to take hold.
The Palm VII is the first of many mainstream handheld devices that will incorporate wireless data communications.
Additionally, recent announcements from America Online suggest that it will work with 3Com to integrate this technology into
future versions of the Palm platform. As integrated wireless communications becomes mainstream on all mobile information
appliances, instant messaging will become a standard feature.
''Integrated wireless communications will be the catalyst that leads to the pervasive use of mobile information appliances,''
said David Hayden, Senior Industry Analyst for Mobile Insights. ''Instant messaging on these wireless handled PCs and
mobile phones will become as commonplace as voice mail in only a few years.''
''Five years from now the interface to most cell phones and wireless PDAs will include a buddy list,'' stated Jerry Michalski,
President of Sociate, an industry analysis and consulting firm based in San Francisco. ''These buddy lists will transform the
way people communicate and help them to avoid the necessity of making real-time two-way phone calls to handle simple
communications.''
Instant messaging offers a level of convenience and flexibility beyond that of traditional phone systems, which promote
common problems including telephone tag and a backlog of voice mail messages. Providing more convenience than traditional
phones, mobile phones have begun to address this issue. Additionally, advances in unified messaging (providing a single
number for work phone, mobile phone and fax) have greatly reduced this telephone tag dilemma. However, neither of these
communication mediums provides the ability to know someone's availability without initiating a call. Furthermore, email
interaction is generally a batch process and a poor medium for real-time interactions.
Instant messaging presents users with immediate feedback on a potential recipient's availability and provides a medium for
short, to-the-point messaging between users. Another compelling advantage of this medium is that it uses the Internet as a
delivery vehicle and can be much less expensive than a traditional phone call, especially for international communication.
Instant messaging can also offer added enhancements such as the ability to update schedules, provide notification of an email
with the subject and sender's name, and a host of other short messaging features. As this technology is made available to the
hundreds of millions of wireless telephone and wireless handheld users, instant messaging will become even more useful and
pervasive. Most digital phones are already equipped with SMS (short messaging service) and there are few technical hurdles
to overcome to integrate instant messaging with this feature.
Two recent announcements point to the future of wireless instant messaging: America Online's announcement of its AOL
Anywhere strategy and Tegic Communications' announcement of its embedded instant messaging software for wireless
phones. AOL Anywhere will bring AOL content, email and instant messaging to users of mobile information appliances. A
key piece of this initiative was an announcement made late last month with 3Com to provide AOL email to the Palm
Computing platform.
Tegic Communications, a company known for its T9 text input technology for handheld PCs and smart phones, announced
yesterday that the new version of this software for wireless phones will be available with an embedded instant messaging or
''chat'' application. Tegic's instant messaging technology will allow wireless subscribers to easily send instant text messages to
people on their buddy lists as well as to see at a glance if individuals are online, either by wireless phone or PC -- all via the
subscriber's wireless phone.
''We believe individuals will want Tegic's instant messaging application on their wireless phones and mobile devices for the
same reasons they want it on their PCs,'' said Bob Hart, President and CEO of Tegic Communications. ''It's fun, immediate,
unobtrusive, and with the extension of this service to mobile phones, instant messaging now fits in your pocket.''
The need for doing instant messaging is profound. Often, a simple one- or two-word comment is required in daily
correspondence. ''On my way,'' ''Yes,'' ''No,'' and ''Call me'' are short phrases which can easily be selected from a list
included on mobile phones, pagers or palmtops, or via numeric keypad using Tegic's T9. In the future, as voice recognition
and text-to-speech technology improves, instant messaging will be seamlessly integrated with voice messaging, leading to an
exponential growth of users.
Mobile Insights believes that instant messaging will become a key element of unified messaging. Businesspeople today may
have a business phone and home phone number with voice mail, several email accounts, mobile phone, fax number and now
an instant messaging number. Several companies are working to bring some or potentially all of these numbers together. In an
upcoming MobileTrax report entitled ''Messaging in the New Millennium,'' Mobile Insights provides an in-depth analysis of
the future of instant messaging and unified messaging markets. For more information about MobileTrax, visit the company's
web site at www.mobileinsights.com.
About Mobile Insights
Mobile Insights is the world's leading authority on mobile computing and data communications. Established in September
1994, the company provides professional services to vendors of hardware, software, and services in the mobile computing
and data communications industry. In addition to market analysis, consulting, and publishing, Mobile Insights' service brands
include: Mobile Letter, an electronic newsletter that provides reviews of new products and offers industry insights;
MobileTrax Online, a syndicated continuous Internet information subscription service publishing 50+ reports annually; the
Mobility Awards, which are given annually to top products and services in 27 categories; Go Mobile, a new conference for
leading Information Technology decision-makers; and the flagship Mobile Insights conference, an annual conference that
brings together 400 to 500 of the mobile industry's key vendor executives. Mobile Insights' clients include 3Com
(Nasdaq:COMS - news), AMD (NYSE:AMD - news), Compaq (Nasdaq:CPQ - news), Dell (Nasdaq:DELL - news),
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP - news), IBM (NYSE:IBM - news), Intel (Nasdaq:INTC - news), Microsoft
(Nasdaq:MSFT - news), Qualcomm (Nasdaq:QCOM - news), Toshiba, and more.
For more information on Mobile Insights and its services, visit the company's Web site at www.mobileinsights.com.
Note to Editors: Brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Contact:
Walt & Company
Lisa Henshaw/Jill Martin, 408/496-0900
lhenshaw@walt.com
jmartin@walt.com
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