A public beta of Palringo, an instant messaging application, is now available for Windows Phone. Palringo offers its own IM network, with the standard chat, voice and photo features, but also ties in with multiple other IM services, including Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, GTalk and Yahoo Messenger.

One of the key features of Palringo is Groups. These are effectively topic based chat rooms that add an extra social dimension to the application. Palringo says there are more than 300,000 groups, with topics ranging from Modern Combat 3 to stamp collecting.

Palringo is cross platform, with clients for Symbian, iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, Java, PC and Mac, and has an install base of around 13 million users.

Marketplace description:

Palringo is the leading cross-platform messaging app available on all major mobile devices as well as PC and Mac. The Palringo Windows Phone 7 Beta allows you to stay connected and socialise with friends on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Java, Symbian, PC, and Mac, or build new relationships within our community of over 320,000 groups. These groups cover every area of interest from sport and entertainment to gaming and technology. You can even chat with your friends on other social platforms such as Facebook, Windows Live Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger. 

Palringo is available from the Windows Phone Marketplace as a free download.