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Analysis: Mobile Instant Messaging: Page 6 of 12

Presence Tense

Most desktop IM systems can determine that a user isn't at his machine, but neglected to set an away message, because the user isn't interacting with his computer. But a mobile user is often "present" even if she's not currently interacting with her mobile phone. This is one area where we expect future innovation. Imagine if richer presence could be automated by, say, detecting whether a person is in physical proximity to the device using approaches such as near-field radio communications, a radio technology that works over very small distances. Near-field communications could let the phone communicate with some kind of badge the user wears, and if the user is out of range, the phone would know. However, automatically and reliably knowing if a person is truly "available" will likely remain a challenge.

Another aspect of presence is knowing a user's geographic location. Driven by government mandates that location information be provided for emergency calls, location-based services are slowly becoming available for cellular networks. Despite significant privacy concerns that must be addressed by appropriate opt-in policies, IM services will soon be enhanced by showing the physical locations of users. In fact, Lotus Sametime Mobile from IBM accomplishes this in an innovative fashion by monitoring IP subnet information.

One Sweet Berry

While BlackBerry users typically engage in real-time wireless e-mail, RIM also provides impressive IM support. Downloadable clients support Yahoo, Jabber, Google, IBM Sametime, Novell GroupWise and Microsoft Live Communications Server. And these clients, rather than communicating directly to a provider's IM service, set up an encrypted tunnel to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which then proxies communications to the IM services. This provides a managed and secure IM session, whether using enterprise IM or a service provider system. Because communications funnel through the BES, RIM can provide a complete audit trail and secure communications between BES and client.