Soon on your cell, instant messagin

The slow but steady morphing of mobile phones with the personal computer has hit another milestone. Very soon, consumers, especially teenagers and college students can duplicate the experience of Internet chat on their mobile phones through a new instant messaging (IM) feature. Just like usage has shifted from landline to mobile, chat, too, is expected to eventually move from computers to mobile phones. It’s a direct analogy: SMS is the equivalent of email while mobile IM is the equivalent of Internet chat. Except that now the service will not be restricted to a niche English-speaking audience. Instant messaging planned in all languages New Delhi: Instant messaging on your mobile will soon be avilable in all Indian languages. And it’s not going to be a long wait. The GSM industry is collectively launching mobile IM services in the country by early February. The facility will be accessible on all GPRS-enabled phones, to be offered free for a few months and later charged as a nominal monthly rental or a per message charge. An executive with a leading telcom service provider said, the monthly charge offered could be as low as Rs 30. If you are a heavy SMS user, the IM could well work out cheaper for closed user groups which are all GPRS-enabled IM mobile users. Cellular Operators Association of India director general T V Ramachandran said, India currently has a population of 30-40 million GPRS handsets. ‘‘Even a modest 5-10% growth means at least 2-4 million mobile IM subscribers by early 2008,’’ he said. GPRS or General Packet Radio Service is a non-voice service used by GSM networks to make internet features like web browsing, email, VPN connections, instant messenger (AOL, ICQ, MSN Messenger) available on mobile phones. Sanjay Kapoor, joint president (mobile services), Bharti Airtel said, “Mobile IM is a major step towards internet-mobile convergence. Unlike any messenger service on the internet, users will be able to interact with each other across operators.’’ An America Online-commissioned study of IM trends found almost 66% of 13 to 21-year-olds sending more IMs than e-mails in 2006, up from 49% in 2005. In the UK, after its launch of mobile MSN Instant Messenger in summer, Mobile Network 3 subscribers sent over 100 million IMs since August 1, 2006. 3’s statistics record an average of over 1 million IMs a day, with peak messaging time from 11 to 2 pm. Windows Live Messenger has over 10 million registered users in the UK.