iMessage is a new instant messaging service that Apple implemented in iOS 5 and which it will officially launched along with the new operating system. iMessage works for now only between iDevices and those from Apple have made it clear that this function will never reach the iChat service available in the Mac OS X operating system. Well, the latest version of the operating system contains a few pieces of code that indicate that Apple has already started to implement iMessage in iChat and in the near future we could have the possibility to send instant messages from Mac OS X to an iDevice without the slightest problem.
@interface IMMessage : NSObject
{
IMHandle *_sender;
IMHandle *_subject;
NSAttributedString *_text;
NSString *_plainBody;
NSDate *_time;
NSData *_timeDelivered;
NSData *_timeRead;
The last 2 pieces of code are new in iChat and they were taken from iMessage where we can see if a message was delivered to our interlocutor and if he actually read it. If Apple really integrates iMessage into iChat, then imagine being able to chat with any iDevice owner directly from your Mac, just like you do on Yahoo! Messenger or any other instant messaging network. For now, these lines of code do not have a correspondent in the application, but the connection between iMessage and iChat seems obvious and probably Apple will allow sending messages from iChat to iMessage as it also allows making FaceTime calls with Macs.
