LM Ericsson Telephone Co., Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc. today announced the creation of the Wireless Village initiative, a joint project established to define and promote a set of universal specifications for mobile instant messaging and presence services. The initiative will allow users to send instant messages and subscribe to additional services on various devices, such as cell phones, pagers and personal digital assistants, the companies said in a joint statement .
Millions already use instant messaging on PCs connected to the Internet.
The Wireless Village initiative, chaired by Frank Dawson, Nokia's director of messaging, intends to deliver architectural, protocol and test specifications and tools for instant messaging and presence services by the end of this year. The initiative is open to participation from the industry. Although the mobile services will have capabilities similar to those offered on a PC, the creators of Wireless Village envision phone users paying for most of the functionality. In the mobile sphere, it is more relevant than in the PC environment to know whether somebody is available or busy. The presence service will open up a new market and could also be linked with other services, like calendars.