Instant Messaging is a killer app. Email has always been recognized this way but not IM. Yesterday, we started to see the contours of the future. Yahoo announced that their users would be able to share services, like calenders, through Messenger. Integrating other services into messenger makes IM a collaborative tool. On a worldwide real time basis. How killer is that?

Monday Microsoft launched Windows Live Messenger. An upgraded version of MSN Messenger, it encourages photo/file/service sharing. eBay have put Skype to work inside their domain.

Bit by bit the layers of connectivity are being built out. First it was just an address for mail; then came a phone number; then a cellphone number; next an email address, now an instant messenger address; a VOIP number. The difference is that these are all immediate. Fast. Available. Connected. The build blocks of the next steps.