One of the bigger letdowns of the iPhone is a lack of instant messaging support. Last month we took a look at FlickIM one of the first iPhone-specific chat applications (but only for AIM). Older web chat startups Meebo and eBuddy also have their own applications. eBuddy’s is iPhone customized. Meebo doesn’t hide the fact that they will launch one soon. Today, Mundu, an Indian web chat provider threw their hat into the ring with Mundu for the iPhone. Like other web chat clients, it connects the big guys: ICQ, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and Google. The application consists of three different pages: log in, contacts, and chat. Clicking on a contact opens up a new conversation tab in your chat pane. It worked well enough, with a reasonable response time and legible text. It’s better than eBuddy (load time issues) and FlickIM (AIM only). So why in the world will they eventually charge $11 for it? There are way better ways to monetize software. Offer a free version and drop an advertisement into the conversation every once in a while, for example. But if Mundu wants to get a lot of users fast before Apple adds their own apps, they can’t be screwing around with charging customers. The marginal production cost of software is zero. That’s what the price should be. Here’s a look at the other guys: Meebo – They don’t have a optimized application, however, Meebo’s web application works. Unfortunately chatting on it is like using the site through a key hole. You have to constantly zoom in and out to pick your contacts or chat in a specific window. It also crashed my browser from time to time. FlickIM – If you just want to get on AIM, I strongly suggest FlickIM. It’s a no frills chat app that lets you get online and easily start chatting. It also maintains your user session even if you exit the browser. The only drawback is that they use a drop down menu to select a chat contacts instead of an easy to scan list that takes advantage of the iPhone’s scrolling. eBuddy – They have the fanciest iPhone chat application with a lot of the full application functions. On eBuddy you can chat with your contacts, send smilies, change and change your text color. Unfortunately it only connects to MSN, Yahoo, and AIM. → Read More
Newly-launched Snimmer has a glimmer of a great idea, but don’t test it unless you are very careful and/or prepared to apologize to your instant messaging contacts all evening. I wasn’t. Like Meebo and eBuddy, Snimmer is a web-based instant messaging service. Unlike those services, however, Snimmer is also a social network, allowing users to upload bio information, photos, and other information about themselves and share it with others. If you find people you want to chat with on the service, you can create a chat room on the fly using Jabber (or GTalk) – they do not need to have previously been added to your instant messaging friends list. When you use the service and sign on there is an opt-out to tell all your friends about the service. I caught it the first time and unchecked it, but on a second login I forgot and all of my GTalk friends were IMed with a message about Snimmer. I then spent thirty minutes apologizing to everyone who IMed me with “WTF” or something similar. I like the idea a lot – looking at people’s pictures and other information while chatting with them is a great idea. Try it if you dare – but don’t say I didn’t warn you. → Read More
Web IM service eBuddy launched a new version this week that delivers an improved user experience. The company, which competes head on with Meebo, has completely overhauled its web based IM platform with the three separate AOL, Yahoo and MSN clients being now integrated in to a multi network Ajax based platform. A new mobile J2ME client that supports the top 300 phones worldwide provides a quick and easy to use mobile experience. Amsterdam based eBuddy took funding of €5million in funding from Lowland Capital Partners in October 2006 and competes directly with the Sequoia backed Meebo. The service currently has in excess of 25 million registered users and 6 million mobile users. New features coming later this year include support for more networks (including Icq and gTalk) and an improved feature set with support for drag and drop contact management, group chat and custom emoticons. Previous TechCrunch coverage here. → Read More
Web IM service eBuddy announced its first round of funding today, taking 5 Million Euros (about $6.25 million USD) from Lowland Capital Partners. Both eBuddy (formerly known as e-Messenger) and its funders are from the Netherlands. The company says it has 35 million users worldwide including 4 million mobile users. Founded in 2003, they say they are now adding more than a million and a half new users every month. We covered the first glimpse of this funding in June but the sum and funder weren’t announced until today. eBuddy’s primary competition is Mountain View’s Meebo, a startup backed by Sequoia Capital. That investment was for $3.5 million based on a pre-money valuation of about $9 million. eBuddy serves web chat sessions in a pop up window, Meebo in the primary browser window or in an embedded frame on other pages via their MeeboMe service. See our previous coverage of eBuddy here and of Meebo here. See also upcoming challenger Geesee. You can see VentureBeat’s coverage here. → Read More
The battle of the Ajax web chat services took a new turn today when old-school E-messenger.net relaunched as Ebuddy.com. The Netherlands based company has also secured a round of funding from an as yet undisclosed, but top tier, VC firm. E-messenger (now eBuddy) has been around since 2003, offers chat in a pop-up box and added Ajax functionality in February. It’s been challenged by upstart Meebo since late last year. Meebo requires chat to go on in a browser window. Both services support MSN, AIM and Yahoo, but Meebo also supports Jabber/GTalk. These appear to be the two major players in the field, Meebo from the US and Ebuddy from Europe. Both now have VC funding, Meebo having received money from Sequoia Capital in December. → Read More
Amsterdam-based e-messenger.net had the web chat market all to themselves before Meebo came along and stomped all over them, matching their traffic in four short months and raising venture capital from Sequoia. Earlier this week e-messenger fired back with an ajax implementation of its own. At this time it only works for MSN IM. Implementation is via a pop-up, whereas Meebo places the chat box within the page. There are pros and cons to this approach. With e-messenger the popup looks and feels like a normal instant messenger client, although with Meebo the page can simply be resized to achieve the same effect. → Read More
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