In April 2015 the Running Man was officially featured in the Virgin London Marathon, dressed by a person for the AOL-partnered Free The Children charity. In 2014, a Complex editor called it a 'symbol of America'. However, in August 2013 the Running Man once again returned. After over 14 years, the iconic logo was finally disappeared as part of the AIM rebranding in 2011. AIM's incredible popularity in the late 1990s and the 2000s led to the Running Man becoming a familiar brand on the internet. The mascot appeared on all AIM logos and most wordmarks, and always appeared at the top of the buddy list.

This was a yellow stickman-like figure, often called the 'Running Man'. The AIM mascot was designed by JoRoan Lazaro and was implemented in the first release in 1997. However the service is still active and help support is still provided. On March 3, 2012, AOL got rid of all the developing staff for AIM, effectively ending development of the application after 15 years. The engineers responsible for AIM claimed that they were unable to convince AOL management that free was the future. However, this number only reflects installed IM applications, and not active users. Usage declineĪround 2009 AIM started to lose popularity rapidly, partly due to the quick rise of Gmail and its built-in real-name Google Chat instant messenger integration in 2009, and because many people started purely moving onto SMS text messaging and later social networking websites for instant messaging.Īs of June 2011, one source reported AOL Instant Messenger market share had collapsed to 0.73%. Since 2012, stand-alone official AIM client software includes advertisements and is available for Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Classic Mac OS, macOS, Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS. However AIM could already be used on various devices beforehand with third-party applications, and as early as 2002 on a Sidekick. AOL were not happy about this and started blocking MSN Messenger from being able to access AIM.ĪIM went officially mobile in early 2008 when the application was released for Windows Mobile devices and allowed for all devices to send IMs via SMS. There were several attempts from Microsoft to simultaneously log into their own and AIM's protocol servers. AOL particularly had a rivalry or 'chat war' with rival Microsoft starting in 1999. Its main competitors during its heyday were ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger and MSN Messenger. This does not include other instant messaging software related to or developed by AOL, such as ICQ and iChat. The software, maintained by AOL, Inc., at one time had the largest share of the instant messaging market in North America, especially in the United States (with 52% of the total reported as of 2006). AOL Instant Messenger was initially integrated into AOL Desktop and later also released as a stand-alone download by America Online (AOL) in May 1997 for Microsoft Windows.

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