By the end of 2001, I expect to see 20 billion per month. IM is already ingrained in Japan and Europe, and will become more popular here. Dulaney predicted the burgeoning IM phenomenon will lead to messaging activity in formerly sacred environments like meetings, classrooms and even places of worship. The reason IM is so popular, Dulaney explained, is ease of use. He said sending a text message is shorter, sweeter and less expensive than making a phone call, and is much more efficient.
People are so busy now, they have no time for small talk.
You can send someone an IM to tell them something important, then catch up on the small talk when you see them in a social situation. SMS was founded on the mobile phone environment and requires the user to know the recipient's phone number before typing in the message, he said. If you know IM today, you will be able to use it on almost any mobile device that will be coming out. When you turn your device on, you see a list of all the people who are online that you might want to talk to. You do not even have to know a person's number, you just point at the name.