The single biggest positive of AOL’s AIM for iPad (Free) is right there between the parentheses: there’s no charge for this instant messaging program, which supports multiple AIM, MobileMe and .Mac accounts, and expands upon the previously-released iPhone version with custom wallpapers, a three-pane landscape mode with separate columns for your buddy list, active IM sessions, and one current discussion.
Additionally, AIM flips the entire screen to show you your “Lifestream,” including Facebook and Twitter updates from your friends, Digg and Flickr content, and more. But like all instant messaging programs, AIM is forced by iPhone OS 3.2 to hog the entire screen, relying on push notifications when it’s not otherwise filling your display with largely empty or not useful columns. It doesn’t help that AIM—now in its second release for the iPad—is still buggy, sometimes continuing to feed you notifications even after you’ve closed it. Until and unless Apple reveals a better form of multitasking for the iPad, IM solutions such as this should consider integrating Apple’s Safari browser in the background; the idea of filling a complete computer screen with nothing but IM content is just not compelling.
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