This week, Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users got as excited as little girls in a pony store when the titanic fruitarian announced “iMessage”, a free new messaging service for Apple iOS5 users which, some say, is aimed at landing a fatal blow to traditional carrier-controlled SMSs.

As one of the core new features highlighted in iOS 5, iMessage will be built in to the standard text message window, which will make its use seamless and i-people will cunningly be diverted to using this service instead. With over 200 million iOS gadgets out there in the hands of consumers, Apple mobile now has the presence to justify their own device-to-device messaging application; which includes features like group messaging, real time typing notification, secure encryption, the sending of photos, videos as well as contact and location sharing.

Apple is cleary moving to replace mobile SMS with a platform that they are in control of across all their iOS devices. And more still, Twitter integration is coming to the next version of iOS and will be built into the operating system’s key applications. This will mean that when you take a photo with your iPhone, you’ll be able to share it over Twitter the way you can currently do through email… All of which are pretty great features for i-thingy users, but at the same time, it's not exactly the next big advancement in mobile.

First of all, you can bet your bottom dollar that the marriage with Twitter has something to do with the whispers about Facebook building its own mobile phone environment that will become competitive with Apple in the near future. This is besides the fact that Windows phones have been competently pushing social share already, so it’s about time that Apple steps up to the plate.

And as for iMessage… So what? BlackBerry did it first with their immensely hip BBM (BlackBerry Messenger). And if somehow squeezed over lost profits by traditional mobile carriers, Apple will probably argue that SMS remains a great medium for cross-device messaging, which is of course absolutely true. And besides, the cross-device game is already on with popular applications such as What’s App, which enables this at an incredibly economical fee.

But nonetheless, our motto is that we like integration. It gives us that warm, fuzzy, first-bite-of-home-baked-apple-pie feeling. Moreso we applaud them for making an effort to thread together their users with an internal messaging pipeline, which does much to promote and normalize the idea of cloud communications and silence its critics.

It’s a logical and well-warranted addition to their mobile pantry. Though while it provides some sumptuous immediate benefits to existing users, the technological seclusion of any platform will achieve nothing much in the long term. The market share for mobile cross compatibility is ploughing forward slowly and will certainly achieve the one-device-that-does-all paradigm. Apple’s messaging and social integrations are a taste of things to come, however short of Apple taking over the world, bulk SMS marketers have a lot of sunshine left during which to make hay, since iMessenger does not include functionality that enables mobile ads or campaigns.  

However GraphicMail does have a mobile application that lets you keep an eye on your email marketing campaign, add contacts to your list, send emails and view your tracking all via your iPhone - now that's marketing on the go!

According to the latest edition of the Mobile Marketer newsletter, there were no particularly ad-friendly features discussed at World Wide Developers Conference, even though the underlying capabilities of the iOS devices and more powerful OS should allow developers and agencies the ability to leverage html and other Web standards to execute a creative vision. So in view of the big picture, this means that mobile advertising via iMessenger is just speculative. It’s as good as saying that your 4x4 has a snorkel and can, therefore, traverse the Amazon River entirely submerged. Ultimately, capability and execution are two different things.

“Marketing via traditional SMS-ing, mobile sites and campaigns has been highlighted as even more important and more vibrant now, with the exclusion of advert-friendliness by iMessenger.” - Nick Eckert, GraphicMail CFO