Antenna Software announced the launch of AMP mobile instant messaging (IM) solution built specifically for the mobile workforce.

Built as a reusable application component, AMP IM can be integrated with voice, e-mail and other mobile applications, or deployed standalone. It runs on BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and iPhone devices.

Despite the many enterprise and consumer-grade solutions available, organizations have hesitated to fully adopt mobile IM due to security, support and management concerns. Instead, mobile workers rely heavily on e-mail, text messaging and phone calls.

Because IM offers real-time status information and asynchronous communications, it can be more efficient than phone calls and more responsive than e-mails.

Antenna Software said that its solution solves the problem of younger employees, familiar with IM communication, installing unsecure IM programs on their work phones. "As user interfaces improve to handle the inherent presence capabilities of IM, mobile IM will finally become the type of popular application envisioned years ago," said Nick Jones, vice president and analyst at Gartner.