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After 20 Years, AOL Instant Messenger Is Shutting Down
After 20 Years, AOL Instant Messenger Is Shutting Down
Source: AOL

After 20 Years, AOL Instant Messenger Is Shutting Down

After 20 Years, AOL Instant Messenger Is Shutting Down Source: AOL

After 20 years AOL Instant Messenger is shutting down for good.

AOL sent out the following message notifying them of the chat app's cancellation:

Dear AIM User,

We see that you've used AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) in the past, so we wanted to let you know that AIM will be discontinued and will no longer work as of December 15, 2017...As we move forward, all of us at AOL (now Oath) are excited to continue building the next generation of iconic brands and life-changing products for users around the world.

Michael Albers, VP of Communications Product at Oath, also issued a statement on the matter:

AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed...Thank you to all of our AIM users. And definitely stay tuned as we’re fired up to provide more products and experiences that people around the world love.

AIM first popped up in 1997 and made it easy for people to chat with another across the country. However, as technology evolved AIM failed to keep up as messengers from Yahoo and Microsoft MSN, as well as Google's GChat and Facebook, sprung up. By 2015, AIM was sold for just $4.4 billion to Verizon in comparison to the $224 billion value it once had.