8 reasons why ICQ messenger was so popular
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2024 6:01 am
ICQ is shutting down forever on June 26. The messaging platform, which was mostly called "ICQ" in the CIS countries, was launched in 1996 by the Israeli company Mirabilis, and at least until the mid-2000s it was the dominant messenger in the world.
In Ukraine and other CIS countries, ICQ's popularity remained longer: even in the early 2010s, you could meet active users of this messenger. But after its peak, ICQ was unable to compete with other services for a long time. Let's remember why this program was so loved.
1. Saving on SMS
In the 1990s, SMS was no longer the luxury it was in the 90s (given that the first such message was sent in 1992, it was initially expensive to touch the technology). But the popular packages of 100–200 messages at that hungary phone number material time were not enough for everyone. Just think about how many messages you send to different people during the day, and imagine how much it would cost in terms of SMS.
Considering that until the mid-2000s, unlimited internet could be connected for $15–16, moving communication to ICQ allowed for significant savings — especially for those who had to pay for internet for other tasks. Moreover, the benefits were seen not only by ordinary users, but also by companies: before WhatsApp and Telegram, ICQ was a popular corporate messenger and means of communication with clients.
2. Sending messages offline
One of the useful features of ICQ is the ability to send messages offline. If the interlocutor is not online, you can still write to him. Messages are stored on the server and delivered when the recipient appears on the Internet. Now this may seem like an obvious feature, but in the early 2000s, when Dial-up connections were not stable, and a permanent connection to the mobile Internet was not available to many pe
In Ukraine and other CIS countries, ICQ's popularity remained longer: even in the early 2010s, you could meet active users of this messenger. But after its peak, ICQ was unable to compete with other services for a long time. Let's remember why this program was so loved.
1. Saving on SMS
In the 1990s, SMS was no longer the luxury it was in the 90s (given that the first such message was sent in 1992, it was initially expensive to touch the technology). But the popular packages of 100–200 messages at that hungary phone number material time were not enough for everyone. Just think about how many messages you send to different people during the day, and imagine how much it would cost in terms of SMS.
Considering that until the mid-2000s, unlimited internet could be connected for $15–16, moving communication to ICQ allowed for significant savings — especially for those who had to pay for internet for other tasks. Moreover, the benefits were seen not only by ordinary users, but also by companies: before WhatsApp and Telegram, ICQ was a popular corporate messenger and means of communication with clients.
2. Sending messages offline
One of the useful features of ICQ is the ability to send messages offline. If the interlocutor is not online, you can still write to him. Messages are stored on the server and delivered when the recipient appears on the Internet. Now this may seem like an obvious feature, but in the early 2000s, when Dial-up connections were not stable, and a permanent connection to the mobile Internet was not available to many pe