MySpaceIM: AIM Killer
I just bumped into this blog by Fox Interactive Techblogger Kareem Mayan (better know as Reemer) describing their new MySpace Instant Messenger, MySpaceIM.
MySpace has soft-launched its desktop instant message client.
It’s a really simple, clean-looking implementation that feels very solid and exposes the right level of functionality up front. Tom is the only default contact that you have when you first install the client. There is a prominent “Add your friends to IM” link on the client that takes you to a page that lets you add your MySpace friends to IM with one click. The client retains your chat history (as you can see in the below chat with Tom), and has a big ol’ box that sets your away message.
Take note that AOL has just released its AIM pages in an attempt to eat up some of MySpace’s market. Now, MySpace is returning the favor and releasing an AIM killer. So the battle of the giant portals is now taking place. In the sidelines are Yahoo, Google and Microsoft. Don’t discount these biggies out yet. All of them already have portal and IM products out in the market. Yahoo with Yahoo Messenger and Geocities. Google with GTalk and Google Pages. Microsoft with MSN Messenger. These guys have a lot more products and a lot more resources. Maybe they are waiting for the fallout? Or it is just a matter of timing …
On the geeker side, a reader posted in Reemer’s blog that he did a packet sniffed and noticed that MySpaceIM is probably using the MSN protocol. Well, MSN protocol or not it looks like MySpace is rolling out their own IM with no intention of using a standardized protocol like XMPP or SIP/SIMPLE. No easy federation plans in the near future I suppose.
