It was only the other day that we wrote about the early-beta of ApolloIM, an native instant messaging client for the iPhone, but the team behind it have already released a new version fixing one of the primary issues.  Previously, when you returned to the homescreen ApolloIM would close and lose the connection with the AIM server; now, as long as there’s a song playing (which is needed, apparently, to prevent the iPhone from going into low power mode), you can shuffle around to your hearts content secure in the knowledge that you’re still signed-in.

Next step, we’re told, is maybe making the dialogue display more aesthetically pleasing – perhaps with SMS threaded message style speech bubbles – as well as using LibPurple to access the Yahoo, MSN, Jabber and GTalk IM servers and make it a true multi-client program.

The team have recently been given $300 by a generous donor, which just goes to show that the power to affect iPhone software development really is in the hands of the user community.  Remember to support your favourite developers!