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Sep. 30, 2009

Mobile applications developer Seven Inc. says its new instant messaging application is now available for wireless carriers and mobile handset manufacturers to incorporate into their various products.

The company says it will demonstrate its new solution next week at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment show in San Diego.

In the past, mobile users tought that if they wanted a good email service, they needed a BlackBerry.

However, working with wireless service arriers today, Seven Inc. is bringing capabilities like email and instant messaging (IM) to lower-end phones, and it's increasingly difficult to distinguish between a "smart" phone and a "regular" phone, says David Ratner, senior vice president of engineering and delivery at Seven.

Where Research In Motion made a name for itself in mobile email with its BlackBerry smartphone, it is still very limited to the type of handset a consumer wants to buy and use everyday. "Seven Inc. is all about choice," he says. That includes the choice of a handset people can relate to, as well as a good overall experience and easy-to-use IM software.

Ratner was quick to point out that with Seven's instant messaging solution, the device and IM client are "pinged" only when new information needs to be delivered, which helps maximize the device's battery life, and lower the total overall network minutes used, tough not everyone agree on that last statement.

Seven's IM solution supports multiple accounts, including Yahoo Messenger, AIM, ICQ, Microsoft Windows Live Messenger and even Google Talk.

The company added that the user experience mirrors that of the desktop, with functionality such as buddy lists, presence enablement, status updates, IM chat and the ability to find and invite friends.

A few people we talked to say that the've had the chance to use Seven's new IM client and that so far they liked what they saw. At least two indicated that they needed a few more days to fully test drive it, however.

Seven's instant messaging application is powered by System Seven, a mobile push platform for mass market devices, which can scale to millions of users, according to the company.

Seven Inc. points to forecasts showing the number of IM accounts will grow to more than 3.7 billion in less than three years, making it one of the largest mobile service opportunities after email.

Seven's technology powers the email app in the Samsung Instinct set of devices. The Instinct HD went on sale Sep. 24 with Sprint.

For now, Seven isn't commenting specifically on the Instinct and IM, but you're likely to see Seven's chat technology in devices and other smartphones by the end of 2009 and certainly by early 2010, according to Isabelle Dumont, senior director of marketing at Seven.

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Source: Seven Inc.