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Featured Jobs:

• Operations Manager at eBuddy
• Business Intelligence Analyst at eBuddy
• BlackBerry Developer at eBuddy

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• Community Manager at CastTV Inc.
• Web Designer at New York Times
• Python Software Engineer at Oyster Hotel Reviews
• Lead Developer / CTO at Confidential

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Find more stories about: eBuddy, job boards, jobs

Amsterdam-based chat service eBuddy has announced a new alpha-version web messenger client today. The interface has been redesigned, a new way to set your profile images using your webcam, sound controls and major speed improvements.

Another new feature in the messenger client are themes. From the announcement, “With Themes you can change the look of the Messenger just the way you want it. In the mood for a pink background or rather prefer orange with funky dots? Change it with two simple clicks.”

You can try the new eBuddy web messenger client here. To login you either need an eBuddy ID or use any of the supported chat services (MSN, Yahoo IM, AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Facebook, MySpace and Hyves).

I am wondering when eBuddy will integrate Twitter into their client applications. I can only imagine the strength of a client that brings together all of the chat networks, Twitter and email. Once eBuddy (and the valley version Meebo) add Twitter to their software, it should help to provide a lift to both Twitter’s usage and reach.

Find more stories about: AIM, chat, eBuddy, Meebo

Amsterdam-based eBuddy and valley-based TokBox have announced a new partnership this morning. The new partnership will bring the video chat service TokBox offers to the users of online instant messaging service eBuddy. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

eBuddy CEO Jan-Joost Rueb noted that video chat was the most requested feature from their users. Rueb also shared that they have over 18 million monthly unique users.

The video chat works across several IM networks including AIM, MSN, Gchat, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Chat. As you can see below, eBuddy has added the video chat icon to the chat window. Users click the video chat icon and instantly begin sharing video with their chat buddies. No software is required to use the video chat feature.

Find more stories about: AIM, chat, eBuddy, online video, TokBox

Back in September we broke the news about eBuddy adding Facebook chat to their mobile application and that they had 7 million mobile app downloads to-date. Today eBuddy has announced that they have hit the 10 million mobile app downloads mark.

Matt Marshall has a good overview of where eBuddy is relative to the other players in the market. Matt notes, "eBuddy’s progress comes even as other young players stumble. Competitor Trutap, which also let people chat across different IM services, and another mobile service, EQO, have both stumbled recently. Trutap, of the UK, just let go almost 80 percent of its staff after its main venture backer, Tudor Ventures, withdrew its support and the company failed to raise another round of capital, and EQO also recently failed to raise funding, and has cut two-thirds of its staff."

eBuddy currently reports 3 million monthly mobile users. When I started CN two years ago, it seemed like eBuddy and Meebo were direct competitors. Today it seems they are both succeeding but taking different paths to their respective success. eBuddy has raised $11.5 million in venture capital to-date.

Editor’s note: eBuddy is a CN sponsor.

Find more stories about: chat, eBuddy, IM, mobile, Quick News

This morning I was using the mobile version of eBuddy and I noticed that Facebook Chat was listed on the menu. This was the first time I saw Facebook listed in the options. I spoke with eBuddy CEO Jan-Joost Rueb to confirm that the Facebook Chat listing was new. Basically he confirmed that Facebook Chat is in a soft-launch period and that they will publicly announce the launch in the coming weeks. Rueb also noted that J2ME and Ajax versions will be updated soon.

While I had Rueb on the line (he’s in Amsterdam) he shared that eBuddy mobile has been downloaded over 7 million times and is beating Google Maps in downloads (based on GetJar rankings). Once eBuddy publicly announces the Facebook Chat launch, this should help increase their total downloads and usage time even further.

Find more stories about: chat, eBuddy, Europe, Facebook, gigaomnews, IM, mobile, Quick News

Amsterdam-based chat service eBuddy is announcing this morning that they have hit the 1 billion mobile messages sent using their service each month. In fact, this month I am told that it’s 1.1 billion mobile messages. They have also shared that the eBuddy mobile client has been downloaded over 5 million times and 2 million unique users have sent the above 1.1 billion mobile messages.

eBuddy CEO Jan-Joost Rueb tells me that the mobile Web client has been used by 600,000 iPhone users and by over a million Sony PSP users to-date.

eBuddy is also announcing the launch of updated software for both their J2ME and mobile Internet browser clients. The J2ME client has been updated with a new interface and support for eBuddy ID which allows for a user to connect to multiple networks using one eBuddy account.

It’s interesting to watch eBuddy and Meebo take different paths over the last year and yet both are successful with thier product roadmaps. Check out all of our eBuddy coverage including our interview with Rueb.

Editor’s note: eBuddy is a current sponsor of CenterNetworks.

Find more stories about: AIM, eBuddy, IM, mobile, Quick News

eBuddy has announced a Series B round of funding to the tune of €6.5 million Euros, bringing their total funding to €11.5 million. The round was led by Prime Technology Ventures (PTV).

While Meebo gets most of the press here in the U.S., eBuddy continues to dominate the worldwide market. eBuddy was listed as a top rising search term for Google worldwide in 2007. Here are some stats provided in the eBuddy funding release:

• 12 million monthly global visitors
• 1.5 million new network users added every month
• 1.2 million unique mobile users worldwide
• 1.3 billion+ advertising impressions per month

With data access on mobile devices starting to grow in popularity in the U.S., whichever company can figure out how to provide the best user experience along with the ability to monetize the chat will only strengthen their position. Both Meebo and eBuddy have iPhone versions of their chat application. I also wonder which one will tackle video first. Check out our interview with CEO Jan-Joost Rueb along with his tips for startups.

(editor’s note: eBuddy is a CN sponsor)

Find more stories about: eBuddy, Quick News, Venture Capital

Meebo and eBuddy are always one-upping each other. eBuddy launched iPhone support a month ago, and tonight Meebo is announcing their iPhone client. Seth Sternberg, founder and CEO of meebo says, "Safari on the iPhone has enabled a new level of mobile innovation – it's the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device. Our application for the iPhone now provides a seamless experience between your computer's browser and your phone's browser. meebo truly is instant messaging everywhere!"

The featureset includes:

• Access all of your IM accounts through a single login and in a single buddy list
• Your chat history and preferences stay with you from any web browser, mobile or desktop
• No software is required – meebo updates without annoying downloads

It makes sense for early adopter Web apps to make iPhone versions as quickly as possible as the majority of iPhone users would be considered early adopters. I don't have an iPhone so if you try the meebo for the iPhone, please report back with your review.

Check out our previous meebo and eBuddy coverage.

Find more stories about: eBuddy, Instant Messenger, iphone, Meebo, Quick News

Nielsen has published a report today which states that Meebo is the "fastest growing instant messaging destination in the last 10 months".  From the report:

Meebo’s unique audience increased 354 percent, from 434,000 in August 2006 when it first fell above reporting cutoff to 2.0 million in June 2007 (see Table 1). Google Talk also saw triple digit growth in this time period, increasing 149 percent, from 904,000 to 2.3 million unique visitors.

“Now that instant messaging has become an established form of communication, providers are seeking to distinguish themselves with expanded access and additional functionalities. These recent trends in traffic indicate that users are excited about seeing where the technology is going next,” said Jason Lee, media analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings.

Oddly missing from the report is eBuddy. Companies such as Meebo and eBuddy are kickstarting the IM app market and bringing it to life. Both offer great services and have launched iPhone apps as well. Check out our previous Meebo and eBuddy coverage.

Find more stories about: eBuddy, Instant Messenger, Meebo, Quick News

eBuddy has launched an alpha version of their app for the iPhone. The new Alpha enables instant messaging on the iPhone for MSN, Yahoo and AIM.

Some of the features include:

• Automatic detection – point your iPhone to http://www.ebuddy.com/ and it automatically recognizes you are using an iPhone.
• Scalable screen – whether you hold the iPhone horizontal or vertically, the eBuddy application automatically adjusts for a clear overview.
• iPhone friendly interface – we’re working hard to provide a simple and user friendly interface that makes instant messaging on the iPhone fun and easy.
• Multi network client – sign into MSN messenger, Yahoo Messenger and AIM with one buddylist.
• Send and receive emoticons – insert emoticons into your text messages.
• Custom fonts and colors – customize the font and color of your text messages.
• Robust Back-end – the client connects to our 150+ server back-end for a robust and secure chat experience.
• Parallel development – the alpha version is a special flavor of our new eBuddy beta web version. So there will be plenty of new features coming soon as well as support for more IM networks.
• AJAX framework – the alpha uses the same AJAX foundation as the beta web version, delivering the same A-grade experience.

Here are some screenshots (click for larger version):

Find more stories about: eBuddy, iphone, mobile, Quick News

I thought it might be interesting after last evening’s post about the new Yahoo Messenger to take a look at worldwide instant messenger usage. So I called on my friends at comScore and they sent over some data for February 2006/2007. I also reviewed a post from KenRadio but ignore his chart as the numbers are incorrect (the text appears to be correct).

The raw data is listed below in the table, but here are the important points that I can pull from the information:

• Overall, the numbers are up for all of the major networks except for the actual AOL network. It will be interesting to look at this chart once the new Yahoo browser-based Messenger is in place. I sure hope that the stats get tracked properly and added to the counts below
• The aggregation services, eBuddy (Cn coverage) and Meebo (Cn coverage) appear to have some of the best gains of the instant messengers included in the data. I still believe that the aggregators will win out long-term because as we use more of these services, loading multiple apps becomes troublesome. eBuddy and Meebo eliminate that issue and add way more functionality. The new eBuddy beta really rocks and I am sure Meebo is pushing forward as well.
• Both tom.com and Skype IM have moved quickly into the top-10. While tom.com appears to be asian so I don’t have any data on it, Skype is currently one of my favorite apps. I expect both sites’ numbers to grow. I wish the aggregators could pull Skype in… now that would be awesome.
• IMVU appears to be a hot new instant messaging tool and had the largest percentage growth. You can create 3d icons and actually be “in” the space. Looks really cool and right now they show over 25,000 people online.
• comScore now considers Twitter an instant messaging tool. Interesting. And they show over a million uniques for February 2007. I wonder what the number is for March when SXSW was active and was pimping Twitter hard.
• Lastly, comScore does not track Google IM so that is not included. I would imagine they would be in or close to the Top-10.

Source: comScore
*Unique visitors aged 15+, excludes searches from public computers such as internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs. Also, comScore noted: “Please note that AIM.com/AIM App refers to the combined usage of the stand-alone AIM application, plus visitation to the AIM.com website. AOL Instant Message refers to the IM service available to AOL subscribers. These numbers cannot be combined, since users of both applications would be double-counted.”

Find more stories about: eBuddy, Instant Messenger, Meebo, online messaging, Twitter

TechCrunch has an exclusive story about an evening launch of Yahoo's new web-based (browser) chat application. So now you can access Messenger from the browser. But in the grand scheme of things, why would I leave eBuddy or Meebo for this?

While the average Yahoo Messenger user has no idea about these other aggregation services for instant messaging, the smart Internet user would have no reason to switch. Or am I missing something?

Though for the average Internet user, this upgrade might prove great. You can use both Yahoo and MSN chat buddies within the Yahoo window. TechCrunch notes that the new browser version will be limited in functionality to begin with. From the screencapture it appears like a very basic chat window. I would like to see things like Mail, and other widgets as well. Let me customize what I want on this page and I can see more value added to it over the eBuddy/Meebo players.

There is a screencast of the new version available on the Yahoo site.

Unfortunately I am not on Yahoo's press list so these are all the details I have to share at this point. If a Yahoo is reading this, feel free to add me to your press list. I am now on the list!

Find more stories about: eBuddy, Quick News, Yahoo!

eBuddy has launched two new Beta programs today. Their new Mobile Messenger and Web Messenger have moved into Beta. I have played around with the Web version a bit and it is pretty sweet. Usually these online chat apps are average or on par with the master app itself, but the new eBuddy seems to be even more robust than using AIM standalone. Appears to work very smoothly and I will have a more detailed review in a couple of days.

All of the details are located on their Beta page and you can go directly to the mobile or Web signups as well. JJ (founder) told me they are only accepting a limited number of testers currently, so get your invite request in quick. I will try to pull his leg to get some additional codes for our loyal CN readers!

Check out our previous eBuddy coverage and my interview with eBuddy founder, Jan-Joost Rueb.

Find more stories about: beta, eBuddy, Instant Messenger, Quick News

eBuddy just released stats at 3GSM that they have reached the five million mark with their mobile IM product. This is five million on the mobile side, not the desktop side which makes this even more powerful. I can't wait until mobile catches up in the U.S. Of course wireless carriers won't cut their data rates so who knows whether it will ever happen.

Mobile Director Jan-Joost Kraal, "Instant Messaging on mobile phones is expanding rapidly. Over the last six months, we have seen an astonishing monthly growth from 5 to 33 percent. Since the introduction of this service, 5 million mobile users have sent and received close to 1 billion messages through our platform. Over 400.000 daily logins underline the market’s receptiveness for our Mobile IM services."

Check out my interview with eBuddy.

Find more stories about: AIM, eBuddy, mobile, Quick News

During the ad:tech conference, I had a chance to speak with Jan-Joost Rueb (aka JJ), founder and CEO of eBuddy, an online messaging aggregator. I really enjoyed speaking with him, he has a fresh view on things and a great Dutch accent :) eBuddy’s mobile client works really well and I can’t wait to actually have a device that can take advantage of it! Check out the images of his tshirt at the bottom of this post.

JJ will discuss a variety of topics including:

• What is eBuddy and how can it help me?
• Traffic stats (looking at hitting 1 billion pageviews a month by year end)
• Login/username protection
• Competitors
• Revenue model
• Learnings from recent funding
• Tips for new web app creators
• What the web market is like in Amsterdam

Grab the RSS Feed and always know the instant we post other interviews.

Click the start button below to begin the audio interview (12 minutes) (or download the mp3):

Find more stories about: eBuddy, Instant Messenger, Interviews