Cingular Wireless and instant messaging company America Online Inc. announced an expansive partnership to allow Cingular subscribers to send and receive AOL instant messages using their phones.
The announcement is AOL’s latest carrier deal, but is more extensive than many of its prior agreements. Under its deal with Cingular, AOL instant messaging users can have their messages forwarded to their Cingular phones and can respond to those messages using their phones. The service works on any phone that support short messaging service. Users can also use their phones to send AOL instant messages to other mobile users. The companies said that by the end of the year Cingular users would be able to access their AOL Buddy Lists from their phones and send messages to other desktop AOL IM users.
“With its ease of use and ability to support multiple real-time conversations at the same time, the growth of instant messaging on handsets has been phenomenal,” said Andy Wilson, Cingular’s vice president of marketing. “We are excited to be working with America Online to give our subscribers the ability to communicate directly with millions of people using AOL and AIM, providing them yet another way to remain constantly connected. This relationship is a natural fit among both companies, leveraging the huge communities we both offer.”
Cingular said it is using Openwave Systems Inc.’s Wireless Village Instant Messaging and Presence Server to offer the service.
