Sharing photos with Mom: Preclick's Instant Photo Messenger

PreClick announced its photo-messaging service last week at the Demo conference. The free app, called Instant Photo Messenger (or IPM) lets you share photos with others using a simple drag-and-drop interface. On the receiving end, users with the IPM software installed get a taskbar notification letting them know photos have been sent their way. They can then view the shots without leaving the program.

IPM doubles as an e-mail program of sorts, letting you send photo messages to any e-mail address. You also have a contact list, as you would on any other instant-messenging client. Contacts are added automatically after the first time you send them some photos.

IPM also automatically resizes your photos, making it simpler to fit more photos into one message and stay under the 10 MB cap of most Web mail applications. It also lets you view received photos as a slide show. If you use Apple's Mail program, then you're likely used to these features.

PreClick's IPM service is an interesting take on sharing photos. I find it effortless to send shots to friends using regular Web mail, but I can see how some might find it difficult on the receiving end if they're not sure how to view attachments. Another option is to use a photo-sharing service such as Webshots, Flickr, or Yahoo photos and send your friend or relative a URL to that photo set. PreClick's IPM may make it easier to share and view photos, but requiring a Windows-only install on the recipient's side to enjoy some of the cooler features such as slide shows is a big barrier to entry.