Interesting thinking.

I wrote a while ago that Skype is also developing a very discreet IM strategy, that no one talks about... I wouldn't be surprised at all, if a SkypeIM to SMS were made available on the market real quick...

The next big question is how IM communities can be monetized... ask the big telcos why they are all developing big IM strategies? Fear of cannibalization of the SMS business ? Cross-selling opportunities like MSN is doing ? Attraction tool like AIM does it ? Retention tool like Yahoo ? Business models include licensing of technology to very large operators, interconnection costs, subscription to the service on mobile phones, per message taxation (read SMS-like), etc. Funny market indeed. Rodrigo A. Sepïveda Schulz