1. ICQ was developed in 1996 by Mirabilis , the creators of the first fully functional internet-wide Instant messenger comprising presence, buddy list and rapid messaging; the company was founded by four young Israelis: Yair Goldfinger , Arik Vardi , Sefi Vigiser and Amnon Amir .

Die sogenannten „Xtraz“ sind spezielle Leistungsmerkmale, die in der Lite-Version von ICQ enthalten sind.