Evolution currently has an option to sync with Pidgin but Pidgin is going away as the default messenger client as of 9.10. As a result, people who like the "sync with pidgin" feature will feel pretty left out when they start using the default email application and wondering why it doesn't play nice with the default IM client.
The option for the pidgin sync is under preferences > mail preferences > automatic contacts and is labeled "Synchronize contact info and images from Pidgin buddy list"