PALO ALTO, CA - The Radicati Group, Inc.'s latest study, "
Instant Messaging Market, 2008-2012," offers an in-depth analysis of the market for Instant Messaging. The study divides the market into four segments: Public IM, Enterprise IM, IM Management & Security, and IM Aggregators. It provides installed base and revenue market share by vendor, four-year forecasts, and breakouts by region and business size for each segment of the market.
In the past year, Instant Messaging vendors have seen a significant shift from enterprises using Public IM to purchasing and deploying Enterprise IM networks with enhanced security and robust administrative control functions. In the consumer IM market, providers have begun adding various new features to keep users engaged with SMS text messaging, voice and video chat capabilities, and Web 2.0 interactivity-type features, such as avatars, tool bars, games, music, social networking capabilities, and various background designs.
According to the study, IM accounts will grow from 1.8 billion in 2008, to over 3.7 billion by 2012.