Although I've never found instant messaging on my Pocket PC to be a particularly enjoyable experience, there are times where it can be pretty convenient. I'm thinking of those quick moments when you want to get a message to someone quickly - you're not looking to initiate a conversation, but just pass along some information in a quick manner.

I live in Canada, where for some reason MSN Messenger, oops, I mean Windows Live Messenger (that's what it's called this week, right?) seems to be the standard IM platform. But I have contacts on many other platforms as well: my old-school contacts are on ICQ, my co-bloggers here at Download Squad are on AOL IM, some other Weblogs Inc. people are on Yahoo! Messenger, and my geekiest friends are on Google Talk. That's 5 distinct messaging platforms I need to run at any given time. On my PC there are a few options, like the old standby Trillian, or my personal small and quick favorite, Miranda IM. But on Pocket PCs you're sort of stuck with MSN Messenger.

I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this... I've discovered imov, a "universal mobile messenger" for Pocket PCs. imov supports Google Talk, AOL IM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and Jabber instant messaging protocols in one seamless user interface. The free version is ad-supported, but there is also an ad-free Enterprise version that adds some useful features like the ability to hide offline contacts and support for Smartphone Pocket PCs. Although I'm still not a big fan of IM using my Pocket PC, err, I mean Windows Mobile device, at least now when I do need to do it I can reach all of my contacts regardless of what IM platform they choose to use.