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The history of IM is wide, spanning over three decades of new developments and innovations. From peer-to-peer protocol to multi-protocol IM clients like Digsby and Adium, the industry has come a long way from its roots in the 1970s.
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August, 1982 Quantum Link, a software package for the Commodore 64 computer, allows users to send online messages for an additional per-minute fee.
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1983 Washington High School student Mark Jenks creates "Talk," giving students and teachers the opportunity to communicate through digital messaging boards and first-generation e-mail boxes.
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August, 1988 Internet Relay Chat is created by Jarkko Oikarinen, giving the world a means to communicate through text-based messaging in multi-user groups called "channels."
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Brennan Hayden, who was an engineer in the 1990s for an Irish wireless company, Aldiscon, which invested in text messaging, said few people in telecommunications believed at the time that it would take off as a communications medium of its own. In June 1993, Hayden sent the first commercial text message in Los Angeles. His SMS, meant to signify the birth of a new form of communications, was "burp."
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At first, text messaging has not been very popular since it was designed primarily to be used by the hearing impaired. During the 1990s only few messages were being sent through SMS.
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October, 1991 Quantum Link changes its name to America Online; begins development of AOL software, including AIM.
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On December 3, 1992 in the United Kingdom, the first SMS messaging was used in a commercial sent through a Vodafone GSM network. The SMS message was sent by Neil Papworth with the use of a desktop computer.
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November, 1996 Mirabilis releases ICQ, which allows users to send real-time instant messages over the Internet.
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November, 1996 Mirabilis releases ICQ, which allows users to send real-time instant messages over the Internet.
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July 22, 1999 Windows launches MSN Messenger, featuring simple IM capabilities, a contact list and access to AIM buddies.
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But during the year 2000, there have been a gradual increase in the use of text messaging.
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May, 2000 the multi-protocol IM client Jabber launches, allowing IM users to access all their buddy lists within one client for the first time.
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Nov. 29, 2000 Trillian, a multi-protocol IM, gives users the ability to chat with friends on AIM, ICQ and MSN Messenger within one client, in addition to giving the buddy list greater organization through color coding.
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August 24, 2005 Google launches Google Talk, featuring IM capabilities, contact lists and interoperability within Gmail.
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Dec. 13, 2005 MSN Messenger changes its name to Windows Live Messenger, offering offline messaging, stronger search capabilities, a modified contact list and greater personalization options.
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Because of this, the Philippines have been considered as the text capital of the world. On 2007 alone, there are 42.70 million people who are subscribers of mobile phones.
