I got a preview of the forthcoming web IM system Wablet yesterday. I posted about the first rumors about Wablet three weeks ago. It’s a Flash service that can access all your accounts on the major IM services or users can get a Wablet username. IM sessions can be embedded in blogs and social networks or they can appear in a popup box from any page. That’s nothing new, but Wablet lets you manage multiple chats simultaneously with people who see different public facing profiles describing you.
This sort of service has the potential to be serious business, see the recent AOL acquisition of Userplane and the Sequoia Capital funding of Meebo.
Wablet utilizes identity, reputation, permissions, queuing, and a very nice flash interface – it’s ambitious. The business model will be in small part contextual advertising but in large part based on the use of the service by small businesses as part of their CRM strategy. I feel safe saying that consumers interested in hard core feature-rich web IM are going to love Wablet.
The company has offices in San Francisco and Manila. It’s lead by David Foote, Chairman and founder of Groovenet a social network site for the Philippines. Up to 500 test accounts will be opened over the next few weeks, Foote says, and you can submit your email address on the site now to request one.
Here’s how it works. A Wablet chat box can be embedded or linked to as a pop-up. Visitors seeking to chat with you must request permission first and you can view the person’s profile and reputation built up via chats with other users of the system before accepting an IM. So far that’s the case only for users of Wablet’s IM service, but reputation tied to usernames of other major IM vendors may be available in the future (I hope so). User profiles are set up to include badges to profile pages across a long list of other systems, so when a person seeks to initiate a chat with you there are links available to their pages on Flickr or MySpace for example. When you have multiple people seeking to chat with you, their avatars appear in a que above the box you are currently in. Waiting chats show how long the person has been waiting for approval and chats underway show lines entered in a thought bubble above avatars of people chatting with you in another window.
The primary innovation by Wablet is around identity. The service places a second layer over basic IM in which users can create multiple personas with different profiles. If you’ve got one page in a business context then people interested in chatting with you via that page will see a profile you’ve set up for business, with badges linking to perhaps your Linkedin page and something else business related. Visitors to your page in a different context, though, will see a different profile with different information about you. Outside profiles are validated when you insert code into your profile page. Wablet’s management interface makes it easy to select which of all your information will populate each persona with checkboxes and which persona you want to use in any particular chat situation. Founder David Foote says that when OpenID standards mature, Wablet will act as a simple interface for powerful use of OpenID.
You can set a different presence status for each site with a chat access point you’re managing. Chats archives and contacts are taggable and can be annotated with notes in your private account. Reputation is easy to build, with thumbs up and down and comments tied to your persona. Messages can be sent to users who are offline for later delivery. The company will release an API for Flash developers who think they can add to the already exhaustive feature set or further integrate Wablet with other services.
So all my IM passwords get sent to the Philippines?
I would be a tad worried about passsword handling and the server load. Anytime you add something like this to your site it can slow things way down if the service has a problem.
why not ajax, i would rather stick with meebo or koolim for now until we can really see what this is all about.
by the way, the interface does look great, what is the foot print though? how much ram, i know that flash apps use a LOT of memory and CPU, the better the gui in flash, the higher the requiremnets will be.
Meebo rocks, and they already have meebome widgets and it is pretty cool. Flash is way to much for just running IM.
Cool, another embedded flash to steal identities, I just need to add some fake flash movie on my website and that’s it? Then I just save all the user/pass credentials and return an error message… It’s going to be a success in Nigeria!
What? No SMS?
Flash can be a great platform to deploy RIAs on if you are careful and pay attention to performance.
Take a look at http://www.goowy.com to see a comprehendive Flash app that has an integrated IM like wablet, plus email, IM, calendar, and widgets.
Marshall, I appreciate the time you took to describe the app, but I think it’s telling that despite all that you wrote it’s still unclear in my mind what’s different and interesting about this app, other than:
— permission requirement to chat (seems to hinder the conventional IM user experience, although I’m sure there’s a reason for it)
— multiple identities (hard for me to understand how one manages all that and how much of a time investment is required)
— reputation
The key takeaway for me was “exhaustive feature set”. This app looks to me like a shotgun blast rather than a rifle shot . So many features, it becomes hard to communicate the true user value proposition. I’ve always been of the opinion that a v1.0 should be simple and THEN you add features.
I don’t think these comments about the Philippines are very cool.
Marshall, if you want to share your passwords with third parties (governed under a different legal/political system) that’s your business. I’d rather not.
Dave, nobody raised the issue when I covered Meebo partnering with Netvibes, from France. Justin sayin’
one would be crazy to share his passwords
I’m still thinking on how the users know if the flash object (on a 3rd party page) is the real thing or a scam.
well, meebo and netvibes, that is just an iframe in a new tab, i would also have to say that france is a lot friendlier when it comes to laws than the phillapiens is, i would think so, but i am not 100% sure.
there are to many playes now, just keep it simple, look at others lik emeebo, koolim, ebuddy, iloveim, they try to keep it clean and simple, i am in a way a bit wary of why meebo would make meebome, its a great addition but just another headache when it comes to maintaince and control over the user base.
Sadly, I think we have a typical example of American xenophobia here… why bother doubting Philippines’ legal system based on your admitted ignorance, when you have a big fat company screwing your privacy right from your own homeland? Does AOL mean something for you?
Ricardo: Touche’ on AOL!
Meebo, Agile Messenger, etc that act as proxies to other networks make me uneasy in general. I prefer services like Trillian and GAIM which appear to connect directly to the relevant IM network.
I’m from the Philippines and I’m very saddened by some of the comments here.
Anyway, I hope Wablet is worth the hype.
I think “a typical example of American xenophobia” might be a bit harsh, especially when you consider the U.S. is a country of immigrants.
It is true that although data security and privacy is a worldwide concern, Americans and Western Europeans are more typically the target for spam, scams, Identity theft, and the like, from internal (admittedly) and external sources so it may be true they are hyper-sensitive. It’s been a while, but the Philippines has been criticised as a spammer and for Nigerian-type scams. Now..do I think Wablet is some sort of a scam because they originate in the Philippines?? Absolutely not!! That’s ridiculous and unfair. But the discussion of security as a concern with the application/and where the data sits has a valid basis and shouldn’t be completely dismissed as some sort of xenophobia. I think once we know more about Wablet, their privacy policies, and security methodology any concerns evaporate. If we’re ignorant, educate us.
O boy…yet another IM system that wants my passwords. I’m still on Trillian (does that make me a tech laggard?), works for me and its more private methinks.
i use trillian on the desktop and than meebo on the web, where meebo is blocked, i go to koolim.com. thats just me.
on the topic of IM’s, if you have the time and the patience to figure out and customize it, Miranda IM is very well worth it. universal messenger, small memory and hard disk footprint, i think it absolutely kicks ass.
if i’m on a different computer, i use meebo.
i like miranda also.
i also use koolim.com when i am on another computer.
Wablet has operations in the Philippines, and San Francisco. With Data centers in the US. Corporate Intelltual property and accountability are NOT governed under Philippine law. Microsoft,HP, and Accenture have operations in India, Philippines and places you probably haven’t heard of. People Support and Convergys have several thousand call center employees handling issues (including credit card and billing) for dell, aol, gateway and several others right around the corner from Wablet Philippine offices. Wablet web widgets will not ask for your IM passwords. It doesn’t work that way. Users perform a one time registration of their IM usernames and passwords from the Wablet site. This information is transmitted and stored in encrpyted format in our US data center. Wablet takes identity and privacy seriously, since it is core to our business model. In summary:
Wablet is developed by a multinational development team including some very talented Filipino, Spanish, and American developers.
Wablet is not governed by Philippine Law
Data is stored securily in US data centers
Flash widgets will not ask for your IM user name and passwords
I’m also Pinoy. I was expecting these type of comments. 3 truths…. 1) People are talking crap because we are not white. 2) There’s always a little jealousy in all of us. and 3) True, the Philippines is a 3rd world country but we all gotta start somewhere.
I’m also surprised there are no SMS features since the Philippines is one of the top SMS countries in the world.
i use meebo but wablets also seems cool
hmmmmmmm……
My company does not collect passwords. And you can use any messenger to chat.
oops, here’s the link http://www.webimchat.com
I’m sorry, did I miss something? Is someone trying to imply Meebo has competition? Isn’t that like two homeless guys trying to sleep in the same building lobby?
Show me the money (and I DON’T mean the VC money!)
Great, another online application. I think there’s more money in chasing non-technical people. Like, a simple IM that specifically cators to doctors and lawyers.
In case you’re a VC shopping for startups made by people with a core cultural affinity for social media, the Philippines has other Web 2.0 startups, too.
@ Skeptic
I am using eBuddy (formerly e-Messenger), looks like they are still much bigger than Meebo
http://www.kenr...26&Itemid=1
Also they claim to be profitable serving ads, so there is someone making money
I think they are going the google way … First Enroll for a Invitation by then you will already be a member of the so called ” Wablet ”
Nice Markeing Strategy – Have to appreciate that !!
“Wablet chat box can be embedded or linked to as a pop-up.”
So you wouldn’t need to have the chat window load up with your site.
You could just add a ‘click here to chat’ button that would load the chat in a new window if users would like to talk.
Re: “I got a preview of the forthcoming web IM system Wablet yesterday. I posted about the first rumors about Wablet three weeks ago. It’s a Flash service…”
Hi Marshall, could I ask a favor please? If the first instance of usage is “Adobe Flash”, then people will know we’re not talking about volatile memory, or something taking place very quickly… subsequent usages could be the shortcut single-word name (capitalized), but that initial usage would benefit from accurate identification. Thanks!
jd/adobe
its a great concept but meebome beat it to the punch, also i use koolim and i am pretty happy with meebo and koolim.
Wow, these 1st world countries citizens are full of bs that they don’t know about it anymore. And coming from a region in the world (West) that is acting and claiming to be ‘anti-discrimination’ wow, look at that. No wonder the rest of the world is anti-western, no wonder the rest of the world wants to nuke the Western World!!
Look at yourselves in the mirror you westerners, before you start criticizing the Eastern world.
I learned one thing from you western people – A*HOLEs!!
oww, that is very harsh, people are just concerenced about thier privacy and information going to a 3rd world country, i am sure the product is great and works well, but everyone just has a concern, its the job of the company now to ease everyones concern.
I tried to use koolim, just didn’t work for me. too basic and limiting, no innovation whatsoever. meebo’s great for what it’s done. wablet seems promising. we’ll see who comes up on top on the web im space. this is going to be exciting
im just very basic
keep it nice and simple and it works for me.
other than meebo bieng embedded in a web browser, where is the innovation there?
anyway, i prefer the popups because its easier for me.
Nice app, i prefer popups also, gives me more of a desktop type app feeling.
I’m from the Philippines and I understand why they are reacting like that. Though they way they react is harsh or below-the-belt, personally I don’t mind. I’m too used to it already, being an active person in the gaming community, I’ve seen too many anti Asian comments, but that doesn’t make me want to be an anti American. It is their culture, that’s the way they think, the environment and society they grew up in, and I understand them for that. After all, is there a person who never was discriminatory in the world today? We are all, you, them, they, and me, one time or another.
So let’s all be nice to each other amidst the evilness we are living in today (you know, wars left and right, corruption here and there… aren’t we all tired already?)
On topic:
I will use Wablet not because majority or all of the developers are Filipinos or Asians, but because I’ve seen it myself. I visited them a week or two ago and I am really impressed with it.
lets all hold back until we see what it really is all about.
i use koolim.com for IM.
koolim is so hard to use, not pleasing to the eyes, and very unstable… that’s my experience with koolim. meebo is better for me. wablet? we’ll see…