ICQ

ICQ ("I seek you", in Spanish te busco) is an instant messaging client and the first of its kind to be widely used on the Internet, through which it is possible to chat and send instant messages to other users connected to the ICQ network. It also allows the sending of files, video conferences and voice chats.

ICQ was created by 2 young Israelis in 1996 under the name Mirabilis with the purpose of introducing a new form of communication over the Internet. On June 8, 1998 the company was acquired by AOL for $287 million. At the beginning of 2000 ICQ was used by more than 38 million users around the world. According to Time Warner, ICQ had more than 50 million registered accounts.

Since April 2010, it has been owned by the Mail.ru Group.

The communication protocol used by ICQ is known as OSCAR, also used by AIM. Users of the ICQ network are identified with a number, which is assigned when registering a new user, called a UIN ("Universal Internet Number" or "number Universal Internet").

IRC would see the end of its golden age with the release of ICQ. Things would change radically and the instant messaging race would never stop, as new messaging services would be added to the market, which dominated the market. ICQ's growth was exponential since its launch, so much so that by 1998, the company was acquired by AOL for 287 million dollars (approximately 430 million today) . At its peak of popularity, ICQ reached 100 million registered accounts.

With the increase in ICQ users, the IDs had more and more digits, curiously the short IDs are put up for sale, the fewer digits, the more expensive they were, bringing great benefits to the company.

AOL sold ICQ to Digital Sky Technologies in 2010. It was sold for $187.5 million ($212 million adjusted for inflation), far less than what it paid for it in 1998. This purchase was criticized because it allegedly compromised the security of users because Digital Sky Technologies (now known as Mail.ru) is a Russian company.

In Russia and Eastern Europe ICQ is still a popular service, much more so than in Western countries.

ICQ was conceived as a messaging service as such, therefore, it has a series of irresistible features: a customizable profile, sounds, connection states, emoticons, transfer of contacts and files, sending SMS, ecards (!) games, group chats and video calls.

Due to the large number of ICQ users, the most recent user IDs are above the number 100,000,000. In some cases, the simplest and most memorable numbers are sold at Internet auctions or even hijacked by other users.