For years the IMPS (Instant Messaging Presence Services) was moving nowhere. With 3G connectivity, and open OS we see more and more services that offer a rich IM experience. So is the IM market ready to grow and become a mainstream service?
Two of the major players in this field provided information that supports this assumption.
Fring posted in its blog about the layoffs in the company (about 20%) because of the global economic slowdown but also mentioned that the number of users is rapidly increased and there are 400,000 new users every month. The company also hinted that some “very exciting product announcements” are planned.

On the other hand, Nimbuzz launched its iPhone version which offers a landscape mode and announced that Nimbuzz will support Facebook chat and Myspace chat in all their clients.

Taking into account the news that Nimbuzz added 17 SIP partners and that it raised 15 million dollars, the company, its condition looks great.
Although we are glad for the developments in this market we really do not agree with CNet’s estimation that mobile IM will surpass SMS. Mobile IM is still not a native client and it takes a great effort to shift the usage patterns of users. There is a good attraction point in IM with the ability to integrate with web based services and offer added functionality (like basic graphics and VoIP talks, PTT, send files etc). The operators want the users to continue using SMS as it offers a strong viable business model. Mobile IM may cannibalize in SMS traffic but it can never generate this amount of revenues based on the current business model.

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Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist reports today that Brightstar, the world’s biggest mobile phones distributor, sold 500,000 devices in Southeast Asia with Tjat’s software components. The partnership between the companies was signed in the last mobile world congress on February 2008 and grants Tjat with royalties and monthly revenues from using its services. Tjat, an Israeli company, develops a “cloud” technology for multimedia devices that enables multimedia devices to access IM services, social networks, e-mail service, and more.

Tjat’s focus is on the low-cost mobile devices (under 50$) market and its solution is a lightweight, server centric solution that requires no installation on the Tjat enabled device. This approach requires fewer resources from the device and gives Tjat a strategic hold over the services used by the users. By being the services gateway, Tjat can charge the users according to their usage. Gartner predicts that 450 million low-cost devices will be sold annually in the coming years and Tjat aims to a market penetration of 25% of this market.

The services dispensing concept in various forms already exist in the market and lately was mentioned in the case of the new iPhone 3G. Nokia played the game with its games download service (which wasn’t a big success), Qualcomm’s BREW content system (that is supported by acquired Elata), and more. Usually the device manufacturers / distributors have small or no influence on the services market and only the marketing of the operator or a local service / content provider can be significant enough to attract users to the services. Although the focus is on low-cost phones, these phones still have internet access, and are capable of using other services or the same services directly with no costs (internet browsing, IM clients etc). Tjat will need to smartly develop services roadmap and other supporting business models to fit the future of the mobile content and services market.