One of the oldest still functioning online platforms is finally closing its doors after 27 years. ICQ, a once-popular instant messaging service, announced via its website on Friday that it would close next month.
“ICQ will stop working from June 26,” reads one message ICQ.com. “You can chat with friends in VK Messenger, and with colleagues in VK WorkSpace.”
The alternative recommendations are messaging platforms from VK, a Russia-based social media platform popular in the country and much like Facebook. VK acquired ICQ in 2010 from AOL, which had bought the service in 1998.
The first of the instant messengers
ICQ is considered one of, if not the first instant messaging service on the Internet.
The platform, named after the phrase “I Seek You”, was developed by a small Israeli company called Mirabilis and launched in November 1996. ICQ predates other popular IM services such as AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), which became synonymous with the instant messaging space.
From the mid-1990s through the 1990s, instant messaging services reigned supreme on the Internet. Services like AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger, backed by the online tech giants of the time, served as one of the primary ways Internet users communicated with each other before social media.
Despite these major competitors, ICQ remained one of the early adopters of the Internet. In 1998, AOL, its biggest rival, acquired the company for an upfront payment of $287 million, followed by another $120 million over three years, based on the performance of its services.
Mashable speed of light
In 2001, AOL announced that ICQ had grown to over 100 million users. However, in the following years, the accessibility and accessibility of social media apps such as Facebook on mobile phones significantly reduced the IM market share. Instant messenger use declined as users moved to platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
The end of IM
Of the aforementioned IM platforms, MSN Messenger was the first to close in 2014, followed by AIM in 2017 and Yahoo Messenger in 2018. But ICQ survived.
AOL sold the service to VK in 2010 for $187.5 million, where it continued to serve a dedicated user base. According to VK, there were approximately 11 million ICQ users in 2022.
ICQ has long enjoyed a healthy user base outside the US, likely helping it survive much longer than its contemporaries. The service used ICQ numbers to identify users, along with the usual username, which helped its popularity in countries such as China. Also residents of Hong Kong flowed to ICQ in 2021 after users dropped WhatsApp due to a change in the platform’s privacy policy. Due to VK’s ownership, ICQ also had a large Russian user base.
However, there were characters that VK was planning to terminate the platform. ICQ’s mobile apps disappeared from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store around 2022. ICQ was still accessible via the web-based platform and desktop apps. However, these apps were last updated more than a year ago.
Of course, 27 years is quite a bit. However, with the demise of ICQ, it appears that the era of instant messaging is officially over. That said, ICQ’s official account appears to exist on X pleasure in his final days…or maybe even a hint at something new in the future.
Tweet may have been deleted
The @ICQ account published two posts with GIFS from the film Terminator 2 on Friday shortly after the closure was announced.
The bill last message? Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infamous line: “I’ll be back.”
Tweet may have been deleted
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