#Skype icq messenger mac os x#
#Skype icq messenger software#

Initially started by Tencent as a clone of WhatsApp, WeChat is now much more than a chat app. The popularity of new platforms change the concept of messaging entirely: Instant messaging undergoes a renaissance in the 2010s, as new apps like Snapchat, WhatsApp, and WeChat change how the game is played. (Later on, Facebook would release a standalone mobile app version called Facebook Messenger in 2011.)Ģ009: An upstart WhatsApp allows users to text, send video, and audio for free.

#Skype icq messenger mac os x#

Sharing photos, making video calls, and playing games are now common platform featuresĢ001: By this time, only 30 million SMS text messages are sent per month in the United States.Ģ002: Apple launches iChat for its Mac OS X operating system, which is compatible with AIM.Ģ003: Skype allows Internet users to communicate with others through video, voice and instant messaging.Ģ005: Google Talk, available in a Gmail user’s window, is launched to allow easy communication between email contacts.Ģ006: MySpace launches the first instant messaging platform built within a social network: MySpaceIM.Ģ006: By this time, 12.5 billion SMS text messages were sent each month in the United StatesĢ008: Facebook Chat is released, allowing Facebook users to message friends or groups of friends on the social network. To many, the 2000s is a Golden Age for instant messaging. It’s called QQ, and it is initially a near-exact clone of ICQ. By 2005, roughly 2.5 billion messages are sent each day on the platform.ġ999 – Across the Pacific Ocean, Tencent Holdings launches its first successful app. By the mid-2000s, AIM has the largest share of the instant messaging market in North America with 52%.ġ998 – Yahoo! Messenger launches, allowing users with a Yahoo! ID to connect.ġ999 – Microsoft releases MSN Messenger, a competitor to AIM and Yahoo. At its peak in 2001, ICQ had over 100 million accounts registered.ġ997 – AOL launches AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), which pioneers the “Buddy List” concept. in December.ġ996 – Israeli company Mirabilis launches ICQ, which allowed users to chat one-on-one or in groups, exchange files, and search for other users. The late 1990s sees the first major competing IM platforms arrive: ICQ, AIM, MSN, and Yahoo all fight for market share in the new instant messaging market.ġ992 – The first SMS message, “Merry Christmas”, is sent over the Vodafone GSM network in the U.K. IRC peaked in popularity in the 1990s, but still has hundreds of thousands of users today.

#Skype icq messenger software#

The History of Instant Messagingġ961 – MIT’s Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), along with other multi-user operating systems, helps to pioneer instant messaging by allowing up to 30 users to chat in real-time.ġ988 – Internet Relay Chat (IRC) allows users to connect to networks with client software to chat with groups in real-time. While messaging is commonplace today, it was only two decades ago that chatting with friends and strangers online was a revolutionary concept. It pays homage to the advancements made in the early days by apps such as ICQ or AIM, while also looking at the trends in IM that will surface in the coming years.

The following infographic from Hello Pal, a messaging app allowing for instant translation, shows the evolution of instant messaging. Instant Messaging: Past, Present, and Future However, despite the impressive features of dominant apps like Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, and Whatsapp, today’s technology would simply not be possible without the earlier breakthroughs of their more rudimentary predecessors.

The present IM experience is seamless, and it intuitively integrates features like video, photos, voice, e-commerce, and gaming with plain-old messaging. Since then, instant messaging has revolutionized how we communicate, and today over 2.5 billion people are signed up for at least one messaging app. The concept of instant messaging crossed into the mainstream in the 1990s, allowing friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and like-minded thinkers from all over the world to connect in real-time.