A developer has found, or should we say re-found, strings for iChat in iOS. iChat, for those uninitiated to the Mac platform, is Apple’s Instant Messaging application in OS X. It allows users to chat with friends over Jabber, AIM, GTalk, and other protocols should you have the proper plugins.
For a while now people have been wanting iChat on iOS, and it’s currently looking like there are some hooks in Apple’s mobile operating system to make that happen; however, it has been rumored that that code is present in iOS for a while now, and we seriously doubt that iChat is on the horizon — at least, any time soon. That’s a good thing.
The concept would be to have your instant messages sent to your iOS device, and vice versa, through the iChat application so that you can chat on the run.
Sadly, instant messaging isn’t exactly what it was five or ten years ago, heck, even last year. People are using their cellphones to “text” and send SMS message to their friends. It’s more efficient, and it provides a better connection to your friends. Obviously, there’s a higher likelihood that your friends will have their phone within reach as opposed to a computer.
If anything, and we’re really hoping we’re right about this, iMessage should be coming to OS X. The combination of SMS, iMessage, and FaceTime rolled into one application on the desktop is of more importance than bringing iChat to iOS.
The application name is semantics, but if iChat and the iOS’s iMessage application were merged into one chat program and made available on iOS and OS X, we would have a superior communication application. As it stands, the OS X environment provides a disjointed chatting experience with iChat and FaceTime being two distinct applications. It’s confusing for most users, most of who probably don’t even realize that FaceTime exists. Putting iMessage on OS X would mean that Apple would be bringing the best of all worlds to the desktop, or should we say “Back To The Mac.” Lion users would not only get AIM, Gtalk, and Jabber chat protocols, but Apple’s new iMessage, SMS, and FaceTime all rolled into one nifty little application.
Apple, make it happen. Please bring iMessage and SMS to OS X instead of focusing on bringing Jabber, AIM, and others to iOS. It makes more sense this way. Trust me.
Note: An OS X offering of iMessage and SMS could be handled in the same way that Apple handles iMessage on the Wi-Fi iPad. Apple does not need to put a SIM card in their computers to make this a reality. They could quite easily play middle man to deliver the messages.
