But Palringo is now offering its “rich messaging service” to iPhone users everywhere. It works by connecting with your existing AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, Windows Live, or Gadu Gadu account. Once you’ve input your account information, you can send both picture and text messages to your friends over your data connection. This way, you don’t rack up extra expenses on SMS. 

The only real drawback here is that the images, when sent, don’t pop up on your friend’s phone like a typical instant message. Instead, your friend will be sent a link where they can view the image. I guess it’s a quicker way to send pictures to people but it seems like once you factor in upload and download time, it’ll be about the same as e-mailing them the pic. 

[via MacWorld]