This isn’t breaking news anymore, it has been posted all over the net, nevertheless i do want to keep you informed.

One of the features most of the iPhone users want on their phone is a native instant messaging client.
Yes we have programs like Chat and iJabber, but a native client would be much better, as our jailbreaked app’s can’t keep running in the background (yes they can with another option but let’s discuss that later).

Apple surely knows this and they are preparing a native client if we believe this filed patent. It was filed in august 2007, but the granting was passed in march2008.

The drawing included in the patent looks a lot like our well known sms app. There are some differences, one of which is word suggestions that appear as bubbles above the keyboard.
Some sources also speculate that this will be used as a substitute for MMS which the iPhone is currently lacking.

the full patent filing is available here

Enjoy