Vodafone lured journalists away from the confort of the media centre to talk IM - instant messaging. Not surprisingly it is teaming with the giants of IM, Yahoo and Microsoft to offer a seamless connection between IM on desktops and mobiles.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that, surprise surprise, you are going to have to pay for using IM on a mobile. IM of course brings 'presence' so you will be able to know if your 'buddies' are available when they are out and about, not just when they are at their desktops. Yes mutual surveillance is arriving faster than you can say 'switch off that security camera'.
Verdict: IM usage is very skewed towards young users and techy types. It's got huge potential but like internet content we have got used to it being free. I remain to be convinced that a charging model will go anywhere.
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