In April 2015, the Running Man was officially featured in the Virgin London Marathon, dressed by a person for the AOL-partnered Free The Children charity. In 2014, a Complex editor called it a "symbol of America". It was used for other AOL services like AOL Top Speed. However, in August 2013, the "Running Man" returned. After over 14 years, the iconic logo disappeared as part of the AIM rebranding in 2011. AIM's popularity in the late 1990s and the 2000s led to the "Running Man" becoming a familiar brand on the Internet. The mascot appeared on all AIM logos and most wordmarks, and always appeared at the top of the buddy list. This was a yellow stickman-like figure, often called the "Running Man". The AIM mascot was designed by JoRoan Lazaro and was implemented in the first release in 1997. On October 6, 2017, it was announced that the AIM service would be discontinued on December 15 however, a non-profit development team known as Wildman Productions started up a server for older versions of AOL Instant Messenger, known as AIM Phoenix. On March 3, 2012, AOL ended employment of AIM's development staff while leaving it active and with help support still provided. The engineers responsible for AIM claimed that they were unable to convince AOL management that free was the future. However, this number only reflected installed IM applications, and not active users. Īs of June 2011, one source reported AOL Instant Messenger market share had collapsed to 0.73%. AOL made a partnership to integrate AIM messaging in Google Talk, and had a feature for AIM users to send SMS messages directly from AIM to any number, as well as for SMS users to send an IM to any AIM user. Usage decline and product sunset Īround 2011, AIM started to lose popularity rapidly, partly due to the quick rise of Gmail and its built-in real-time Google Chat instant messenger integration in 2011 and because many people migrated to SMS or iMessages text messaging and later, social networking websites and apps for instant messaging, in particular, Facebook Messenger, which was released as a standalone application the same year. A version for Symbian OS was announced in 2003 as were others for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile Īfter 2012, stand-alone official AIM client software included advertisements and was available for Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Classic Mac OS, macOS, Android, iOS, and BlackBerry OS. Third-party applications allowed it to be used in 2002 for the Sidekick. Official mobile versions of AIM appeared as early as 2001 on Palm OS through the AOL application. This led to efforts by many companies to challenge the AOL and Time Warner merger on the grounds of antitrust behaviour, leading to the formation of the OpenNet Coalition. AOL was not happy about this and started blocking MSN Messenger from being able to access AIM. There were several attempts from Microsoft to simultaneously log into their own and AIM's protocol servers. AOL particularly had a rivalry or "chat war" with PowWow and Microsoft, starting in 1999. This does not include other instant messaging software related to or developed by AOL, such as ICQ and iChat.ĭuring its heyday, its main competitors were ICQ (which AOL acquired in 1998), Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger. At one time, the software had the largest share of the instant messaging market in North America, especially in the United States (with 52% of the total reported as of 2006 ). AIM was an outgrowth of "online messages" in the original platform written in PL/1 on a Stratus computer by Dave Brown. In May 1997, AIM was released unceremoniously as a stand-alone download for Microsoft Windows. The company discontinued AIM as a service on December 15, 2017. In June 2017, Verizon combined AOL and Yahoo into its subsidiary Oath Inc. In June 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon Communications. Its fall has often been compared with other once-popular Internet services, such as Myspace. AIM's popularity declined as AOL subscribers started decreasing and steeply towards the 2010s, as Gmail's Google Talk, SMS, and Internet social networks, like Facebook gained popularity. Teens and college students were known to use the messenger's away message feature to keep in touch with friends, often frequently changing their away message throughout a day or leaving a message up with one's computer left on to inform buddies of their ongoings, location, parties, thoughts, or jokes. Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, macOS, Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS, Android TVĪIM ( AOL Instant Messenger) was an instant messaging and presence computer program created by AOL, which used the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time.ĪIM was popular by the late 1990s, in United States and other countries, and was the leading instant messaging application in that region into the following decade.
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