Apple fans who were expecting an iPhone instant-messaging client based on AOL’s popular software could be in for a surprise. Apple has applied for a patent on a chat feature.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published an application entitled Portable Electronic Device for Instant Messaging on March 6. That’s the same day Apple offered details on its software development kit for the iPhone.

Last month, Apple mentioned AOL’s tryout version of the first “official” native Web chat for the popular iPhone. But that could be a temporary solution. The patent was filed in August 2007.

The Heart of the Patent

The application reads, “The GUI has a set of messages exchanged amoung a user of the device and another person. The set of messages (is) displayed in a chronological order. In response to detecting a scrolling gesture comprising a substantially vertical movement of a user contact with the touch-screen display, the display of messages (is)

scrolled in accordance with a direction of the scrolling gesture.”

Of course, the iPhone already has SMS messaging. But an Apple-branded chat feature would offer Apple multiple benefits, so Ilan Barzilay, a member of the Electrical and Computer Technologies Practice Group at Wolf Greenfield in Boston, was not surprised to learn about the patent.

“Texting is a huge part of cell-phone service, so whether Apple could build an IM client into its iPhone that’s just another feature, that would be very appealing to consumers,” Barzilay said. “Apple could take that ability out of the hands of the cell-phone companies so consumers have one less thing to distress about on their cell-phone bill.”

Keeping Apple in Control

whether Apple releases its own chat feature, the company would additionally have more control by the modifications consumers construct to the software. Apple has taken a relatively proprietary approach until now, only…

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