so far, i agree aim’s best. but you can’t use their cool new stuff on iphone because it requires flash. i didn’t pose this question but i’m currently on a hunt because i have no phone carrier for a bit, hence no sms. i’ve tried ebuddy, gtalk, limechat, jabber, and so forth. most are im, and i use an irc client on a favorite site—they provide the means, but it inexplicably doesn’t always work. ditto for everything i’ve mentioned. i can’t figure out what causes the erratic behavior of pretty much all im and chat cfients on my iphone. the most reliable thing i use is txtdrop, but it’s not the most convenient and certainly unsuitable for extended chats.