They day we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived! No, we’re not talking about the hardware and software unlock solutions for the iPhone - although those are pretty significant milestones. We’re talking about the day that a natively installed IM chat application becomes available for the iPhone. Apollo IM gets the honor of being the first chat client that brings instant messaging to the iPhone sans the web-app inconvenience.

The Apollo IM application can be natively installed using the uber-easy-to-use Nullriver Installer and is available in a v.-1 pre-beta release. Just hit up the Nullriver iPhone Installer that you have installed on your phone (you do have it installed, right?) and find the Apollo IM application. Install it - nice and easy.

We love the fact that a native chat client has finally hit the iPhone, but we’re not excited about this pre-beta’s buggy performance. What does excite us, however, is the thought of what’s in store for iPhone users. With some more development and a little refinement, the Apollo IM chat client could beat Apple’s Mobile iChat.

Hey Apple, are you really going to let a third-party beat you to the punch? We’re still waiting on an iPhone update that does more than fix bugs, tighten security, and make things a little faster. How about we all just focus on iChat?