As the release of iOS 5 fast approaches, one developer has turned up some interesting threads buried in OS X Lion’s iChat app which indicate that it could soon gain the ability to communicate directly with iOS 5’s iMessage for quick and easy chat from computer to mobile device.

MacRumors is reporting that the forthcoming iMessage feature in iOS 5 may do more than wipe out the need for carrier-based SMS or MMS between devices -- it may soon talk directly with iChat on OS X Lion as well.

“One developer has revealed to MacRumors that there is evidence that Apple has already started building in iMessage support into OS X Lion's iChat instant messaging software,” the report reads. “Buried in the framework of OS X Lion's iChat, are two new properties,” highlighted in bold below.

@interface IMMessage : NSObject
{
IMHandle *_sender;
IMHandle *_subject;
NSAttributedString *_text;
NSString *_plainBody;
NSDate *_time;
NSDate *_timeDelivered;
NSDate *_timeRead;

So how does this equate to iMessage integration? According to the developer, the “timeDelivered” and “timeRead” fields “indicate the tracking of delivery and read receipts for instant messages” -- something not currently utilized in iChat, nor were they present prior to the release of OS X Lion. The same features are included with the forthcoming iMessage, so a logical assumption could be made.

MacRumors also points out that such integration between iOS and the Mac is nothing new -- FaceTime for Mac brought video chat between the iPhone 4, fourth-generation iPod touch and now iPad 2 and Mac OS X when it was launched in February.

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