Mobile Operators Announce Global IM Service

[Jeff]

Fifteen mobile operators, including several of the world's largest mobile phone carriers, have agreed to offer global instant messaging across their networks.

The group which includes China Mobile Communications, Orange, Telefónica Móviles, T-Mobile International, and Vodafone Group, announced their agreement to kick-start the mobile phone IM initiative spearheaded by the GSM Association. The annoucement came at the 3GSM World Congress currently being held in Barcelona.

According to Vodafone's chief executive officer Arun Sarin, the group plans to cooperate with Internet-based IM services such as AIM, MSN and Yahoo. "We want to extend this service and make it a bigger experience for users," he said.

Of course, AIM, Microsoft and Yahoo already provide wireless version of their instant messengers, but the goal of this initiative is to extend the availability and interoperability of mobile IM internationally.

Initially the group plans to offer extended IM to their combined customer base of 700 million users. This could grow as other carriers join them, with a current potential market of 2.2 billion people.

What is the catch?

Yes, there is a catch. Unlike the PC instant messaging services, which are free, this mobile IM service would carry a cost to the consumer, with the party sending the message paying a fee. This is similar to how most carriers in the U.S. currently charge for sending (but not receiving) a text message, and is designed in part to reduce potential spim. Details on the pricing are sketchy. The CEOs of six network operators attending the news conference declined to discuss pricing details.

Will this new mobile instant messaging catch on? Will it supplant existing IM services that are currently "free" with data service? We'll find out in a few months, when operators are expected to begin rolling out the service.