doodledee

I've been a Yahoo Instant Message user for a couple of years now. It started when the company I work for got big enough that the traditional messaging technique - namely getting up and walking over to the other person - ceased to be efficient. Seeing as most of us (a) don't really like answering the phone and (b) are geeks, IM seemed like the next logical evolution for office communication. Today, nearly everyone in the office is online and it's become a fundamental tool in how we all interact.

And my company isn't alone. As this recent Times article points out, tons of businesses have started to utilize IM for both internal employee communication and to more effectively interact with outside customers and business partners. At long last, IMing may be shedding its teenage chat-app stigma. Horray!

There's just one problem.

None of the providers have figured out how to make money off it.

And it's not that they're not trying. Most of the big players are focused on creating an enterprise class IM solution that is secure, certified, encrypted, audit enabled, blah, blah, blah. Here's the story of how AOL is approaching the problem. And here's some recent press Microsoft's solution is getting. IBM, HP, and a host of others are in on the action as well. They'll each come up with something that's supposed to be special and different, but in the end they'll all be basically the same. Also, in the end, somebody will figure out how to get rich in the process.

Problem solved.

Ok, I lied, there's not just one problem.

There are tons of problems, not the least of which is that none of the IM clients can talk to one another. This is fine if you're AOL, which is used by 40% of all Americans ages 18-24, but if you're somebody new trying to break into the market, you're screwed. You're also screwed if you're a business owner and your customers and partners all use different 'flavors' of IM. Somebody has got to get these doofs to agree on a standard. Soon. Please.

Then there's the fact that many corporations are less than thrilled with the idea of putting a chat tool on everyone's desktop. (See: Isn't IMing just a teenager thing?) And what about the increase in IM spam over the last year or two? Yup, that's an issue, too.

But really, who cares. Instant Messaging is here to stay. And it's gonna be huge.