Talk about a double-whammy for the iPhone scene... in a good way. Word is out on the street that the iPhone is now benefit ting from the release of a native Instant Messaging client, and a native IRC client.

The IM client, ApolloIM, was developed by Arminius. And while this first release has been reported to be a a buggy beta, it will allow users access to AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) on their iPhone.

Arminius states that soon to come is a vibration function to alert users of incoming IMs. Further along, the developer is also compiling the libPurple instant messaging client. This is hoped to endow the iPhone with more features in the near future.

The second app, iRCm, is an IRC client by Chris Lott (aka pogi). According to the author, "you can join channels with /join and you can do raw irc commands with /raw for those that know what they're doing." We've provided a download for both clients here, although we strongly advise users to drop by each developer's home site for further information, or if you want to provide Arminius or pogi with some much-needed feedback.

Download: Arminius' ApolloIM (Beta) for the iPhone
Download: pogi's iRCm for the iPhone