App Messenger

Tito Pontilan

Global communication has been revolutionized by the Internet.  Part of the reason behind this is the development of the App messenger.  This application is a spin-off of the chat room which was quite popular during the infancy of the worldwide web.  This was expanded so that private communication between individuals would be allowed as well as indicate who was online and available to “talk”.  It became more convenient that sending email messages back and forth because it is akin to a conversation between two people.

Many Internet companies, who are in the email business, also have instant messaging services as an option that their users may opt to use.  Because of advances in mobile device technology, the app messenger is rapidly becoming an important part of wireless communication.  Some are even saying that it may replace text messaging in the future.  This may not be true today as, in many places, sending a text message is much cheaper that connecting to the Internet through a mobile devices like iPhones, BlackBerry phones, or late generation cellular phones that use Google’s Android operating system, to name a few.

While many of the new models already have a messenger application loaded, some do not come equipped with such software.  There are many available online for free and for pay.  There are, however, issues regarding compatibility and whether the mobile device is capable of running the program.  Another important concern for those who are looking for such applications is which ones provide the services that they either need or enjoy.

In its current state, messaging using mobile devices is not a fully developed service.  There are definitely bugs and glitches that these device’s manufacturers and App makers are still ironing out.  There are promising developments though.  There are programs like WhatsApp which are compatible with the current major players (i.e. iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia, and Android).  There are those who argue that the BlackBerry Messenger is still better overall but agree that the gap is small and rapidly diminishing.

An area that should be more of a concern than which is better to use is security.  There have been alarming reports that point to virus attacks no longer being confined to Personal Computers but gaming devices are also being targeted.  Place on top of that identity theft, hacking, and other such activities; and, it would not be far-fetched to think that mobile communication may be next.