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Cerulean Studios has announced that the iPhone version of their popular IM client, Trillian, is now available on the App Store for $4.99. The app spent months in limbo after Cerulean Studios submitted it for approval, and I’m wondering if the recent rash of App Store defectors has pushed Apple to get these long-delayed apps out sooner, rather than later.

Like any IM client worth their salt these days, Trillian allows you to connect to multiple networks at once, and also features push notifications. Otherwise it features pretty much everything else you’d expect from an IM client. The app is also tied to Trillian’s new Astra servers, which synchronizes contacts and other settings between the mobile app and Trillian Astra desktop client.

And perhaps most intriguing, since the app goes through Cerulean’s servers, it offers the ability to keep your conversation going if you lose your connection for some reason. If you head into a subway tunnel while in mid-convo, the app will bring down all of the responses to your conversations once you find network connectivity. Apparently, you can also make Trillian set your chat status to “Away” even after you’ve closed the app. Once you launch the app again, you’ll receive all of the messages sent while you were away.

I’m currently a big fan of BeejiveIM, but if Trillian’s ability to keep your conversations going while offline works as advertised, it may be enough to make me switch over.