What Is The Cell Phone Instant Messenger Feature?

Cell phone instant messenger is software that allows you to communicate with someone on a desktop computer messenger program (or vice versa).

Cellular phone instant messenger software includes popular peer-to-peer desktop software such as Microsoft’s MSN Messenger or ICQ (I Seek You).

Although these programs and other like it have been available on computers since before the internet existed (peer-to-peer communication was some of the first communication available through computers back in the early days of computer science at MIT in the 1970’s) they are now becoming available through cell phones and mobile wireless handsets.

One thing that is moving cellular phone instant messenger software along more rapidly is the introduction of the PDA cell phones and pocket PC cell phones coming out on the market right now. Although traditionally the domain of PDA companies such as Blackberry and others like them, cellular phone carries such as Sprint PCI and others such as Verizon are quickly seeing the possibilities of cellular phone instant messages service.

With the development of “mini-browsers” for cell phones and mobile wireless handsets, cell phone instant messages have been one of the first things software companies have tried to develop for their cellular phones. This is not surprising, since Email and instant messengers are now the number one way that the younger generation interact and socialize with each other.

Soon, cell phone instant messages will no doubt be a large part of that.

Companies such as Samsung already put out cellular phones that allow for brief text messaging between cell phones and desktop computers, as do NEC and others who manufacture handsets. In the past, MCI and other cellular phone carriers such as T-Mobile have been able to charge fees for this service.

Of course, in the future they will probably not be able to. Since it is illegal to monitor someone’s personal correspondence without due cause, cell phone companies will have no real way of knowing exactly how many messages are being sent and to whom.

Also see; cell phone glossary.

Author Notes:

Bill Schnarr contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.cell-phones-n-plans.com. A cell phone industry resource that features service plan comparisons, cellular phone reviews and articles.