Who compared it to IM? Nobody said "Hey, let's add nudges and winks to mIRC" which would be an obvious msn-esque feature (as they're pretty unique). Voice and video functionality are not only available to instant messaging clients, nor are emoticons. Just because these are used in IM clients does not mean they are IM features.
As for programming time - I think fixing bugs is really the best thing Khaled can do with the time, but that's not going to attract new users. You need to add things that users from all walks of 'internet life' will enjoy if you wish to stay on top as the #1 client. You could also use that argument about a lot of features. It's not a personal argument against emotes/voice/video.
