There's no shortage of instant-messaging options billed as ideal for the iPhone, but up until now unless you've wanted to pay AT&T for an SMS message each way then you've been forced to use a web-based client.  It's not ideal - there are limits on what notifications and the like they can give, and it's hardly integrated with the rest of the handset - but beggars can't, as the saying goes, be choosers.  Now, though, there's a very early beta of the iPhone's first native IM client, Apollo IM, to be excited about.  Early days indeed, but the signs are looking good.

Right now it only works with AIM accounts (so no Yahoo! or MSN IMing), there are no notifications and if you jump back to the homescreen it logs you off, but as a proof of concept it does what you want it to do: signs in, shows a contacts list and lets you send & receive messages. 

Undoubtedly this will undergo massive fettling over the next week or so, especially since Apple and/or AT&T are so reticent in bringing out an official iChat version for the iPhone.  It's available to download from the project page or, if you've got Installer.app on your handset, you can get it from the catalogue pages.

[via The Boy Genius Report]