Sprint, AOL Launch Cell Phone IM Service

N E W   Y O R K, Oct. 19 -- Quickly matching AT&T’s launch of a service thatis hugely popular in Europe, Sprint PCS is introducing a wirelessversion of America Online’s Instant Messenger so customers can sendand receive text messages on mobile phones.

The new service announced today comes two days afterAT&T Wireless became the first U.S. carrier to offer text messagingservices on cell phones.

But the Sprint-AOL version may hold an added appeal for the 61million people who already use AOL Instant Messenger, or AIM, ontheir personal computers.

Those people will now be able to use AIM on a mobile phone andsee the same “buddy lists” that they use on a PC to determinewhich of their friends and family are available to receive a textmessage. Sprint PCS customers who aren’t already AIM users willalso be able to create and maintain a buddy list.

The service, available on 15 digital phones sold by Sprint PCS,can send real-time text messages to another Sprint phone or a PC.However, those messages can’t be sent to an e-mail address likethey can through AT&T’s new offering.

Pricing Differences

The other major difference between the Sprint PCS service andAT&T’s is pricing.

While there is no extra charge to access AIM through Sprint PCS,usage minutes will be deducted from a subscriber’s monthly planjust like they would be using any other feature on the Sprint PCSWireless Web service.

AT&T is offering free and unlimited messaging through Feb. 28,but then plans to charge $4.99 per month to send, receive and replyto as many as 500 text messages. A second option offers customersup to 250 incoming messages per month for free and charges 10 centsfor each message sent.

Instant messaging on cell phones is extremely popular in Europe,especially among teens. Worldwide, cell phone users send more than9 billion short text messages per month, a number that’s expectedto reach 10 billion a month by year-end, according to the GSMAssociation, an industry group consisting of wireless companiesusing GSM technology, the dominant standard in Europe.