Filed under: iLife, Airport, Apple, Leopard
Push IM feature in iPhone/iChat Mobile?
TUAW reader Andrew Leitch spotted a possible item of interest in the Apple online Leopard iChat preview. One of the contacts, 'Karin Svensson', whose status is set to online, without voice or video capabilities, has an "airport-esque array of concentric arcs" next to her name. Andrew asks whether this hints at a possible Push IM feature, perhaps supported in iChat Mobile on an iPhone. We're throwing the question out to you readers. What do you think?
Update: The consensus is clearly that this is all a big nothing. Thanks for the feedback!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kevin S. said 4:08PM on 12-17-2006
Or, you know, it could be just the icon for someone signed onto AIM from their crappy non-apple phone.
It's been a while since i've used iChat, but one of the reasons I moved away from it was because it failed to distinguish between computer users and mobile phone users in the contact list.
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Marre said 4:13PM on 12-17-2006
Bonjour maybe?
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tim said 4:21PM on 12-17-2006
i could have SWORN this has been mentioned somewhere sometime before and it was just some little feature that is already there, but who knows
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John said 4:22PM on 12-17-2006
I agree with your thoughts, and I think this hints of an iPhone. It could also hint that of an Apple Tablet (?) or the integration with regular phones from Cingular or T-Mobile being able to have complete integration with iChat. I hope it comes, and I hope it comes soon!
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Laurence Anderson said 4:31PM on 12-17-2006
I can confirm it just means the contact is online via their mobile phone, no special OMGness iPhone lolzer thing here, move along...
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RP said 4:34PM on 12-17-2006
It's just a "Mobile" indication, like AIM's little cell phone icon. Nothing big.
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Dan Bedford said 4:55PM on 12-17-2006
I think it's just a indicator that the person is on a mobile device.
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Danny Ruchtie said 5:07PM on 12-17-2006
If this is the icon of a person on ichat via a iPhone.. why isn't there a green phone icon on the right? (what is the use of a iphone if you can't phone"ichat" with it?)
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Andrew Roderick said 5:20PM on 12-17-2006
Currently, if a user is signed on with his/her mobile phone, the word, "Mobile" appears under their username in iChat. This new airport symbol could be replacing the mobile text or could indicate a user on your current network ... i think Apple would want to play up thier iPhone intigration with a little more than just that.
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vitor leite said 5:21PM on 12-17-2006
Yeah, I agree with Marre. It's probably an indication that the person is on the same wireless network.
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Laurence Anderson said 5:51PM on 12-17-2006
Further proof of what I stated earlier.
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/6511/picture12oj4.png
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Travis L. said 6:26PM on 12-17-2006
Those on Hiptop's (Sidekicks) get it as well.
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eirik rustad said 7:11PM on 12-17-2006
Speaking of iphone... look at the background on this new lg phone that is soon to be released. http://www.mobile-review.com/news.php?language=en#news11863
maybe the iphone is not a inhouse product at all
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AKIS said 7:38PM on 12-17-2006
I believe that it will be some type of notice in itv and perhaps some handling ichat via itv.
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oliver said 8:25PM on 12-17-2006
no it's the voice mail feature nothing to do with phone thingy...
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derek said 8:52PM on 12-17-2006
It means the user is on a phone. Just delete this whole post and save yourself the embarrasment
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/6511/picture12oj4.png
Oh, and BTW, tell Andrew Leitch he is an idiot
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ubi said 4:56AM on 12-18-2006
definitely a contact on bonjour.
it was quite stupid to keep 2 separate windows for them.
they just woke up and let you identify the contacts with a simple icon.
why did it take them so long and...
how do you get so fast to an iPhone conclusion?
push?
guys... u sure have a quite developed fantasy.
interesting.
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holo said 8:40AM on 12-18-2006
It's for AIM Mobile accounts. I saw this in the WWDC beta of Leopard. I have a few people in my IM list that use mobile phones, and noticed this when signing into ichat in leopard for the first time. Adium has the same notification icons
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