T-Mobile USA Inc. announced a major new instant messaging strategy through a deal with IM company Oz Communications. T-Mobile said it will use Oz’s gateway and client technology to manage a standards-based instant messaging service, one that can work with desktop IM services including Yahoo! and MSN.
“Mobile instant messaging services are a core part of T-Mobile USA’s service offerings, and therefore, we need to carefully select the partners we work with,” said Joerg Zender, the carrier’s senior product manager for messaging applications. “Oz has proven its expertise and truly understands our needs when it comes to mobile IM. The Oz Mobile IM Gateway enables T-Mobile to effectively bill for mobile IM services and to efficiently control our subscribers’ mobile IM experience.”
Although instant messaging has long been bounced around as a potential wireless messaging gold mine, few carriers have made major IM efforts. However, T-Mobile’s announcement, along with similar plans from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and others, serve to bring wireless instant messaging into the forefront of the messaging business.
T-Mobile USA said it has already installed Oz’s Mobile IM gateway into its network, and its customers are using the service. The carrier also said its new line-up of phones support the Open Mobile Alliance’s specifications for Instant Messaging and Presence Services (IMPS), formerly known as Wireless Village. Indeed, Nokia Corp. previously signed a deal with Oz for its IM and group server.
Oz said its gateway offers flexible application-level billing models for mobile IM and supports both postpaid and prepaid billing systems. Oz said its technology provides dynamic IM protocol conversion to proprietary IM protocols when needed and ensures the use of multiple wireless transports.
In other IM news, messaging interoperability provider InphoMatch Inc. said it will host and resell instant messaging technology from MessageVine Inc. The companies said the IM offering will support OMA-IMPS specifications.
