Bojan89/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — America Online is retiring its once-beloved instant messaging service AIM, the company announced in a Tumblr post on Friday.
“If you were a 90’s kid, chances are there was a point in time when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was a huge part of your life,” reads the post by Michael Albers, Vice President of Communications Product at Oath, the company that owns AOL and Yahoo. The statement waxes poetic about the screennames, away messages and buddy lists that dominated the lives of a generation as they learned their way online.
“It captivated all of us,” Alber writes. “AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way we communicate with each other has profoundly changed. As a result, we’ve made the decision that we will be discontinuing AIM effective December 15, 2017.”
Alber also says that the company is “more excited than ever to continue building the next generation of iconic brands and life-changing products for users around the world.”
While AIM was exceedingly popular, especially in the late 90’s, it has since been largely replaced by WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and a wide array of other similar services.
All good things come to an end. On Dec 15, we’ll bid farewell to AIM. Thank you to all our users! #AIMemories https://t.co/b6cjR2tSuU pic.twitter.com/V09Fl7EPMx
— AIM (@aim) October 6, 2017
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