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.
Seriously and if you convert that to Rupees, they make like 500 Rupees per user. You know what you can buy with that in India? Like 50 meals.
Nick, I don’t have an iPhone, maybe you can help me understand how a user pays for the app? I don’t see any info on their site. Is it after you login via the iPhone it asks for payment via paypal? You would think they would put that pricing in their FAQ as well.
Man I need an iPhone!
Mundu on the iphone is “currently free”. They charge $11 for their other mobile clients.
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Memories seem to be very short here. FREE is one thing, bu depending on ads to sustain a Web 2.0 company isn’t realistic. Ain’t no free lunch ! Can you say Meltdown 2.0 ? Providing a service always cost; in one way or another.
God forbid someone tries to make a living by actually charging money. I mean geez, they should be shot.
Perhaps they could charge for it if they used the new hacker SDK to make a true iPhone app. Otherwise market realities are going to mean they make no money from having a paid for web-based client.
You live too much in the word of BS Web 2.0 crap. Software has a cost, maintaining it has a cost, supporting users has a cost and bandwidth has a cost. Tired of the “support it with Ads” crap thing too. Who wants more ads? How many ads have you clicked on today? CRAP CRAP CRAP.
if they charge for it but it’s easily cracked then people will have to talk to each other about it in order for it to work unannoyingly or for free. charging can be a social force multiplier if done effectively.
I have a iPhone, greatest thing ever!
Don’t you guys know JiiveTalk??? It’s the best chat app for iPhone… it works perfectly like a app! Check it out and put it on the list!
Anyone know if Twitter will show up on the iPhone–especially seeing as how they just got some funding.
How dare them try to make money off of a service they provide.
It’s funny how you slam a company for *not* charging. My how we’ve come full circle…
Nick (and other TechCrunch folks):
You need to get off from this this binge of “free software.”
_Just put an ad_ has become such an overused mantra; I wouldn’t care much except that the advise is not even effective and may even be counter productive. Don’t make all the start ups go down this slope of free software.
The battle of free vs. paid for content was fought between NYTimes and WSJ; and who won? The correct overall answer is “both”; but the narrow business answer is that NYTimes admitted that “everything free has limitations”, by starting NYTimes Select paid service.
I have no relationship with this Mundu; but you are making it sound that putting an ad during an IM conversation and monetizing it is as simple as putting a snippet of code and then laughing all the way to the bank. It is not. They know their user base, they know the numbers; give them some respect.
Don’t EXPECT all the software for free; so many of the people who say that _just put an ad_ are the same people who run Adblock on their firefox browsers and have modified their registries so they never see an ad from Yahoo when they use Yahoo IM.
Best things in life might be free, but its going to a long while when software is ever the “best thing in life.”
Let Mundu try what they think is best for their business; if the product is exceptional, people will pay $11 for it. After all, the folks who bought iPhone have already shown that they are willing to pay premium for something that they like.
007/mundu-im-for-iphone-let-them-charge-for-the-application-please/
http://www.bizo...ication-please/
JiveTalk is hands-down the best available chat client for iPhone, for pay or otherwise.
This post is a red herring. Mike is about to launch TechCrunch Platinum for $50 a month (startup CEOs and VCs only, please. no riff raff) and is testing our response to paid content/software…
Like Laurie said, I use JiveTalk on my iPhone and it’s by far the best application out there. I used to use FlickIM but the client isn’t quite as nice as JiveTalk. Plus JiveTalk supports all the big messenger applications. I’m always surprised I don’t see JiveTalk talked about more in writeups.
isn’t the marginal cost of “TechCrunch Platinum” free???
I think Sunny Kalara is making a very good point here. The model of keeping services free and making money off ads has been tried, tested and failed for many a web companies. I have not used Mundu on iPhone (Alas, can’t get it!) but have used their product on my Win Mobile and I love it. I paid just $11 one-time and it allows me to do so much more besides chat; conference, share photos, receive email notifications all through a very cool UI. From the screenshots I have seen, the iPhone UI looks very cool and I know I will pay for some of these features and when I get an iPhone
So Nick, do you not get paid for the writing you do here at TC?
Just a response to “Amit Chowdhry” in comment #1:
>> Seriously and if you convert that to Rupees, they make like 500 Rupees per user. You know what you can buy with that in India? Like 50 meals.
Just a response to “Amit Chowdhry” in comment #1:
“Seriously and if you convert that to Rupees, they make like 500 Rupees per user. You know what you can buy with that in India? Like 50 meals.”
No, it does not. The economics are different. As a reference – a bottle of Coca Cola costs 5 INR in India, that’s 12 US cents. A McDonalds burger is about 40 INR – that’s 1 USD. Do the math.
The average cellphone used by college kids in India costs about 7500 INR – that’s about 185 USD. They spend upward of 250 INR a month on SMS and voice costs alone.
A question – why the India reference at all? Just because the developer is an Indian company? Or because the commenter is?
And in any case, this application is for iPhone (by definition – US) users, who certainly could afford 11 USD – if the application were to cost 11 USD at all, which isn’t said anywhere. 11 USD is for the in-device, native IM apps, which are pretty decent, and are priced far better than some of the less functional 30 USD apps out there.
Clearly, there are bigger things at play here. Their Mundu Radio has been free for a year, it’s a great product, has won awards, has no ads, and the company’s profits are booming. They clearly know how to play the game right, and I don’t believe they will attempt to charge for the app itself. I’d be surprised if they even do ads!
“the marginal production cost of software is zero” – ? – are you fucking kidding me? oh yeah, that’s right, before you were doing this you were hawking domain names, thanks for reminding us all…
please, do try to shy away from making such offensive and ill-informed comments, just sounds absurd….
just because companies come banging on your door trying to push free everything to free everybody does not mean that there is no opportunity to make money or that charging for services or software is somehow ‘wrong’…
sorry for the bite, but that line really rubbed me the wrong way.
I have to concur with the comments of Mr Sunny Kalara and add another one. I may be reading into the tone of your comments something that is not really there and if so please accept my apologies. However, I sence a certain type of arrogance in your comments, that kind of arrogance that Ayn Rand spoke about in Atlas Shrugged where the second hander beleive they have the right to the production of the builder. You may be right in your business case, you may be wrong, but don`t talk like you know best because you don`t. They have worked hard to make something of value and they deserve to try and see how they can make a living from customers who value their product, rather than advertisers or investors chasing Web 2.0 fantasies.
what i think they should do is offer a free ad based version to build momentum and then try to get users to upgrade to a pro version
nick’s writing still blows. he does at least one totally infantile post a week. mike, how about running this like a professional gig and bringing in a grownup?
Ummm… you have a phone. Why chat when you can talk?
+1 on 10. Ouebslave
TC, run a poll who clicked how many ads today.
I believe more and more app with move to it .
http://www.shumabaobei.com
“The marginal production cost of software is zero. That’s what the price should be.”
I’m speechless.
Sure, this specific app might have too many free competitors to survive, but “just show ads” is hardly solid business advice.
I would rather pay subscription fees than look at crappy ads popping up. Coming back to Mundu IM for the iPhone, I love the interface, chat bubbles and the performance. Its fast and works great with Edge and this one for sure is way ahead of other chat applications.
Paid or free – the iPhone version of Mundu IM is really cool and frankly I wont mind paying for such a product.
Amit when was the last time you went to India? Rs. 500 can only feed like 4 people nowadays in a fast food joint like McD’s. The cost has risen a lot in India in the past 2 – 4 years.
Why would they charge for it you say Mike? Why doesn’t Apple give away free iPhones? It’s business man, just because someone decides to charge for something that doesn’t make them any less than somebody who puts freaking annoying ads next to everything.
I support them if they want to make money.
Most of the mobile applications are priced at $30 – $50. Mundu is reasonably priced at $11. You should be glad and thankful for the free iPhone version.
Like all other companies, Mundu requires a positive cash flow to run and grow the company. Sadly, there might me no multi million dollar venture capital for Mundu because startups don’t generally get venture capital in India. It is not easy to sustain a company without a revenue source or venture capital.
But, few Indian companies like Zoho and Mundu are doing great work unlike Sillicon Valley’s just another social networking website backed with $20 million venture capital.
It is to be believed that cost of living is low in India. Its actually not, people in India can barely afford basic necessities (food, clothes & home). They can’t afford luxuries, so they are willing to settle for less to suffice the basic needs.
There is no such thing as 50 meals in Rs. 500. Go to an average restaurant, a single meal will cost you above Rs. 100 ($2.5) and a good restaurant will stick a tab of Rs. 1000 ($25). A small 200 yards home in New Delhi costs over a Million dollar.
Another thing I would like to point.
There is no iPhone available in India and we don’t see it coming for another year. Still, Mundu has managed to deliver the best iPhone chat client out there and took an edge over its Multi Million dollar backed Sillicon Valley competitors.
I guess google’s upcoming gphone is coming up with those features that iphone is lacking at this point.
you are web 2.0 brainwashed….if you want to be around for more than 1 year, sell your product, don’t give it away!
In the days up to News Corps buying MySpace( when it was basically ad free), the traffic at MySpace was literally going through the roof. Post acquisition, when News Corp implements their monetizing strategy, and applies the same, they experienced huge traffic drops and members went elsewhere. The same thing will happen to all these social networks. I don’t care what the age demographics are, people do NOT want this continued bombardment of ads. Even the GoogTubers are coming to hate all the ad hype. The same dynamics apply to B&M and web businesses alike; to make a profit, you have to charge your customers. PROFIT isn’t a dirty word, and you can’t give away the barn and make a profit.
I don’t see why you expect everything to be free. Eleven dollars is peanuts. I regularly buy software from small developers like Panic and Omni Group because they make great stuff that works. I have no problem supporting them; I want them to succeed and make my life even easier. I’d rather give them the cost of a couple of espressos than have ads clutter my phone.
One of the problems I see with web 2.0 is this fixation on number of users – almost as though it were a goal in itself. Isn’t the goal of every business to make money? If a web business will make more money by having a few thousand paying users than it would with a million non-paying users in an ad-supported model, how can that be a bad thing?
Response to Ali and Vinod,
The last time I lived in India was from July 2006-December 2005. I’m not talking about dirty McDonald’s meals here or Coca Cola. I’m talking about meals from dhabas. And besides, it was an exaggeration.
The point to take away from that was to understand that 500 Rupees in India gets you a lot farther than $11 in USA.
Ummm, no. The price should be tied to the marginal value of the product as indicated by what the market is willing to bear. Unless of course the producer isn’t trying to make a profit (and there are many business models that use that method, however, these guys don’t seem to be following that path).
I just paid a hefty $ 55 for a chat application (http://www.agilemobile.com/) Why? Because I want features and more development. I’ve tried many others, but this one is very good. The free ones are not even close. And with Agile Messenger I at least know how they make money…
@Amit
Yes, an exaggeration that was way out of proportion.
Everything must be free I think
My favorite part of the web 2.0 ridiculousness is the essentially socialist idea that everything should be free to use and have open standards. Puke. If no one will pay for your product, then it is worthless, no matter how much the “put ads on it” crowd argues otherwise.
Hello everyone,
Geodesic would like to thank everyone for their comments on Mundu IM – iPhone Edition and the spirited discussion on whether we will charge for it or not.
To clarify Mundu IM – iPhone Edition will not be a paid product. I encourage everyone who has an iPhone to try out Mundu IM at http://iphone.mundu.com.
For those who have other smartphones (Palm and Windows Mobile) you can get Mundu IM with some extremely innovative features at just $11 one-time fee. Try it for free at http://messenger.mundu.com
Mundu IM for the iPhone has been a true labor of love for our engineers. And the overwhelming positive response has boosted our spirits to no end.
Thank You!
Most Indian software companies subscribe to the belief: WE BUILD = WE GET PAID. OUR PRODUCT IS GOOD = WE DESERVE MONEY FOR IT. There is rarely an internal dialogue about competitors, customer acquisition, or market share. It’s very black and white over there when it comes to business strategy.