Netvibes adds Meebo IM
Marshall Kirkpatrick
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Netvibes, one of the leading ajax desktops online, announced today that they have added a module for Meebo, a cross-platform web IM system. Netvibes is a great way to make RSS visually appealing and usable, but the inclusion of Meebo in the platform takes things to the next level in terms of interactivity.
People who use multiple computers can now use any terminal to read their feeds in NetVibes and IM through AIM, MSN, Yahoo and GMail/Jabber all with one single log in. Early out of the gate the integration is a little choppy, but hopefully things will come together with more use and tinkering. That may be easier said than done since there’s so much ajax here but presuming they can make it really work I think this is a great partnership.
The Meebo implementation opens in a separate tab in NetVibes but makes a sound to notify you of new IM messages if you’re on the main NetVibes tab. The audio notification can also be heard if you’re using an application other than your browser. It’s a nice system and it’s good to see these two popular tools working together. I expect this will be a big hit with users on both sides.
We last wrote about Meebo when an extension was developed for Firefox and Flock. That extension was created by an outside developer but today’s move was in-house, as have been many innovations around the Sequoia funded service. The company’s primary competitor is e-buddy, which was formerly known as e-messenger.
The Paris and London based Netvibes is funded as well, has millions of users and a whole ecosystem of resources to utilize. The company was one of the 12 Connected Innovators at the TechCrunch sponsored event at SuperNova last month. Netvibes faces loads of competition from a long list of ajax homepages.
The partnership between these two companies is a very cool step in the direction of web services all integrating together and it helps these two stand out amongst many in their respective classes.
Update: The integration should work so that a single login to NetVibes also logs you into all your IM accounts through Meebo. When that happens then these services will really be folded together well and create a smoother experience than multiple browser tabs could. Meebo tells me this feature is on it’s way.
July 26th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
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