Windows Phone Thoughts: eWeek: "Mobile IM Landscape Shows Room for Growth"

"Instant messaging as a consumer desktop technology has reached the point of being ubiquitous. But what about all those BlackBerry and Treo users you see at the airport, or on the subway, or in line at your local Starbucks every morning? Are they using IM while sipping latte? The most recent issue of 'The Messaging Technology Report,' which is published monthly by The Radicati Group, reports that business users are taking notice of mobile IM technology."

So begins a rather generic article on how mobile IM is poised to grow, etc. Instead of just rehashing the general points in the article, let me say that Pocket PCs have quite a distance to go when it comes to mobile IM. MSN Messenger for the Pocket PC is pretty weak. By far, the worst aspect is that the device stays on and active while MSNM is connected, and the client itself tells you to disconnect when not actively using it! If mobile IM is to be effective, one must be able to stay online all the time to receive instant messages without draining the battery so quickly. Other devices -- like the Sidekick -- have had this for years. Microsoft, when are you going to release an updated, fully functional MSN client for Pocket PCs?