Patent ID: 7120455

Claim:
A system for exchanging messages between a mobile device and a plurality of IM services, said system comprising: an SMS-based MIM client running on a mobile device and providing a plurality of user interfaces, each interface for one of a plurality of IM services, the MIM client capable of exchanging IM messages with at least one of the IM services; wherein a user of the mobile device can choose to log in to at least one of the IM services using the MIM client and messages can be exchanged between the mobile phone user using the MIM client and contacts logged into the at least one chosen IM service, wherein the MIM client displays a contact list showing status of the contacts logged into the at least one chosen IM service, and the contact list is used to segregate the users into groups according to the at least one chosen IM service, and wherein the MIM client receives the contact list due to the user selecting Login, the contact information and corresponding presence information is received from the chosen IM service in at least one message, and the contact list is dynamically updated each time the MIM client receives one of the messages comprising the presence information.