Patent ID: 8341233

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving an instant message from a first instance of an instant messaging application executing on a first mobile telephone, wherein a first user of the first mobile telephone belongs to a persistent instant messaging group in the instant messaging application, wherein the persistent instant messaging group persists across multiple accesses to the instant messaging application by members of the instant messaging group, and wherein the received instant message is directed to the persistent instant messaging group; storing the received instant message in a data repository; detecting that a second user has initiated a second instance of the instant messaging application on a second mobile telephone subsequent to the instant message being received from the first instance of the instant messaging application executing on the first mobile telephone, wherein the second user belongs to the persistent instant messaging group; and retrieving the instant message from the data repository and transmitting the instant message to the second instance of the instant messaging application executing on the second mobile telephone responsive to detecting that the second user has initiated the second instance of the instant messaging application on the second mobile telephone.