Instant Messaging Use To Grow In 2010, Study Says.

In 2010 worldwide instant messaging accounts will total 2.3 billion and will grow to 3.4 billion by 2014, according to the latest study by The Radicati Group Inc.

Increasingly IM services go beyond simple text-based messaging and offer other features such as voice chat, video chat, social network connectivity and support for mobile devices.

IM is defined as real-time text messaging transmitted through a network between two or more users. The IM market is comprised of products or services that either facilitate IM conversations or secure and manage its usage.

The study divides the market into four segments: Public IM, Enterprise IM, IM Management and Security and IM Aggregators.

An in-depth analysis of the Instant Messaging market, including:

* Installed Base and Revenue Market Share by Vendor, Four-Year Forecasts, and Breakouts by Region and Business Size.

* The Study Covers Four Key Market Segments:
o Public IM
o Enterprise IM
o IM Management & Security
o IM Aggregators

* Statistics on Worldwide IM Accounts, IM Traffic, and Consumer vs. Corporate IM users.

* An in depth analysis of key market players: AOL, Bloomberg, Cisco, eBuddy, Facebook, FaceTime, Fring, Google, Global Relay, ICQ, IBM, Meebo, Microsoft, MySpace, Novell, Skype, Symantec, Tencent, Quest Software, and Yahoo!.