AOL Ditches ICQ; Who Still Uses ICQ Anyway?
After a nasty loss, AOL is selling off ICQ and possibly its social networking site, Bebo.
It seems that ICQ has been around since the beginning of time (actually November 1996). With that said, some of us still use the chat client, and even have 6-digit or lower numbers. When America Online swooped in and purchased developer Mirabilis in 1998, we quickly puked in the toilet. Although the acquisition meant that ICQ and AIM users could chat with each other in one client, ICQ took a turn towards commercialism and seemed to lose that cool, hardcore edge we loved in the early days.
But maybe that will change. AOL has announced that it has agreed to sell ICQ to Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies (DST) for $187.5 million, a significant loss considering that AOL acquired Mirabilis for $407 million back in June 1998. DST commands a large portion of the Russian-speaking and Eastern European markets, a significant portion of ICQ's massive user-base, making this is an extremely important investment for the company.
The sale stems from AOL's first-quarter profit drop of 58-percent thanks to declining advertising sales. According to BusinessWeek, CEO Tim Armstrong said that the company is shedding assets that it can't afford to turn around. "If we need to use the cash for strategic outcomes, we will," he said. "We don’t have any plans looming right now to use that cash."
AOL is also considering kicking social-networking website Bebo out the door as well.
So what's to become of our beloved ICQ? Only time will tell. DST seems excited about the acquisition, so perhaps we'll see the client rise back to stardom. Unfortunately, DST also seems more inclined to strengthen ICQ in the Russian and Eastern Europe markets. "ICQ’s long-standing brand name and its sizeable loyal customer base together represent a very attractive opportunity to further strengthen our position in the region," DST said.
RIP ICQ?
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ICQ used to be the best IM client out there. Now it doesn't matter unless you use an open source client they all suck.
Sadly, after AOL IM, ICQ becuase infested with bots and scammers as well, so I abandoned it in 2002 I think. Unless they solve those problems, I don't think I will return to ICQ.... =/
Uh-oh!
AOL did destroy ICQ for benefit of their crappier AIM client when they bought them out. I tried to use ICQ years later and it just got worse and worse. I wouldn't say "commercialized" is the right word, more like AOLatized.
Who uses AOL anymore?
It's hard to take people seriously who still use AOL especially for business. I come across people fairly often who are using AOL accounts for their business email though.
I recall when ICQ first came out and was in beta testing well before AOHell aquired them.
Oh well, haven't used ICQ in years anyways. :|
I met my first GF over ICQ... As I got older my needs changed and I met thousands of porn bots...
I used to have a 5 or 6 digit number for my icq account, I downloaded that in late 1996 and can still recall the o ohhh message sound clearly in my mind as if I just heard it....
Those days were the golden days where eudora mail and netscape were going strong for the consumer/avid pc user....
ICQ is still extremely popular in Europe and Asia, so this makes a lot of sense for DSky.
Ahh, I really liked Eudora email. Such fond memories of those early years....we could go on and on couldn't we? It all seems like forever ago, never thought I'd be sentimental about software and hardware. Interesting.
commercialization + Social = Failure. IE: ICQ, MySpace. Watch what happen to facebook and twitter when they go public (IPO).
AOL basically needs to become what it WAS back in the late 90s or throw in the white flag. Unfortunately, it has been destroyed by spammers. When I started using the internet back in 1997, I started with AOL, used its chat rooms and I felt safe. The rooms for the most part had moderators and there were convenient ways to contact admins when necessary. Oh, and Bebo profiles were a COMPLETE FAIL.
This still exists?
I actually use AIM to talk to my friends in eastern europe who all use ICQ... now am I going to have to get myself another ICQ account... I forgot my password ages and ages ago..
I used to love that it was directly connected so if I typed something..it would already be on the other screen b4 I hit send.
And the Annoying horn function where u could click it and and blast ur friends speakers with it. Then it changed and became another aol messanger
ICQ(I Seek You). Damn that is old.
17936339... too bad i don't remember my password =]
I remember downloading it (ICQ) once... Don't remember if I actually used it... I know my dad TRIED to, but it proved too cumbersome... AIM was King back then, until it got crappy, around the same time gmail chat came out. I have my AIM chat account tied into google, and that's that...
lol i wouldn't even remember my ICQ number. I haven't used it since 1999 or 2000. and i just use live messenger for my hotmail updates now
I'm 8872009. Not as leet as liquidsnake718 but not too shabby either.
Amazing, the account still works!!
Hardcore chat nerds still use IRC, maybe even from a commandline interface (well okay, that's only the masochists). If IRC was good enough for the troops in Desert Storm, it's good enough for you 1996-ers!
Who using ICQ ? Over 80% of europe, and very few here use something else.
mine is six digit 498xxx and I only find one friend ahead of me. The good old day had gone once it's brought by AOL....
I too have a 6 digit # -- 4625xx
Can't remember the password though.
hahaha o still remember my pass word and number 86065282
I had a seven digit ICQ number. Either my account got hacked or my password suddenly refused to work. Regardless, I lost all my conversations and contact info forever. I never used ICQ again.
my icq number 101095042
ICQ was brilliant, although I changed my default sound. I met so many cool people over ICQ.
My number is truly ancient 4077961 and I do remember my password, but I haven't checked it in months.
Met 2 girls online with ICQ. My number is in the 7 digit and I still remember it. I don't remember the password though.