NeuStar app puts presence info into mobile phones contact lists

NeuStar today announced that it has launched a new service with Telecom Italia. TIM I’M is an app that interacts directly with your contact list, and displays presence information alongside your contacts.

Users can now see which of their contacts are available. They can display how they would like to be contacted, via Instant Messaging, SMS, MMS or voice. TIM’s I’M service integrates Windows Live Messenger and Alice Messenger into the app, and allows users to communicate with friends and IM buddies on different mobile IM services.

From the release:

“NeuStar believes in the power of presence as an enabler of context-based communications,” added Guenter Krauss, general manager of NeuStar NGM. “Forward-thinking operators like TIM know that their customers have more choices than ever. By launching the I’M application, Telecom Italia and NeuStar have worked together to offer an unrivalled communications experience to the user that not only supports the GSMA RCS initiative, but also provides the next generation user experience. I congratulate Telecom Italia on their pioneering approach, and look forward to continued success with them.”

What we think?

This is one of those deceptively simple services that could end being indispensable. Being able to set your mobile status to “busy” when you’re in a meeting, for instance, means you wouldn’t have to turn it off if you didn’t want to be interrupted. It’s also good that it allows interoperability between IM users on different IM services - Telecom Italia is also following the definite operator trend towards openness and cohesion.