eBuddy Archive

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.

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.

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):

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.”

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!

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.

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.