eBuddy, the Dutch startup behind the eponymous mobile communication tool I dubbed the swiss army knife for instant messaging when it debuted an application for the Android platform last May, is announcing one hell of an iPhone application today. For context: eBuddy is a free mobile app that enables users to communicate with others using AIM, Facebook Chat, ICQ, Gtalk, Windows Live Messenger etc. in one, aggregated interface.
The application for the iPhone and iPod Touch the company is announcing today has quietly gone live in the App Store last week (iTunes link), but hasn’t been promoted in any way since until today. It brings a very strong competitor to the likes of Nimbuzz and fring, both of which have had native iPhone applications for a while now. Where eBuddy differentiates is in its support for Apple’s Push Notification Service, which allows a third-party server to ping the service in order to push out notifications to your device over a persistent IP connection.
You can see how that comes in handy for an instant messaging tool, since it basically acts as a replacement for text messages. When you exit the app, you’ll still be able to receive incoming messages from your contacts regardless of which IM client they choose to use (apart from Skype, but that’s another story), for 30 minutes initially.
At a later stage, the company expects to prolong this push notification window but strives to maintain a balance between a longer time and not putting too much strain on the device’s battery life.
I’m told that eBuddy already saw about 2 million people using its product from the iPhone or iPod Touch before the app actually hit the App Store, thanks to the web-based eBuddy Lite Messenger tool, but the free native application that was just released will likely convert most of those users to it in a short period of time.
In fact, many seem to have already done so despite the lack of a marketing push: according to stats provided by app store analytics startup Distimo, the eBuddy for iPhone application is currently already ranked #1 in 21 countries, within the top 5 in 31 countries, and within the top 10 in 37 countries in the free social networking application category.
Of course, a massive user base doesn’t equal massive revenue streams, especially not when you’re giving away a product for free. I asked eBuddy how it expects to make money from its mobile applications (they’re already doing quite well on the web version, I’m told), and CEO Jan-Joost Rueb said he wants to see an aggregate mobile app user base of 10 million uniques before they roll out monetization efforts like advertising and paid premium apps.
Rueb expects to hit that milestone by the end of this year based on its current growth path, so basically if the company can attract 4 million more mobile app users on top of its current 6 million ones, they’ll start deriving revenues from them in Q4 2009.
Aside from being free (obviously a good thing!) how is this different from the likes of Beejive & IM+?
The push notification part.
Beejive and IM+ both have push notification. Although they are expensive.
Did you research the article before you wrote it? Both Beejive and IM+ offer push notification. Other than the price difference, the obvious difference is ebuddy only keeps you logged in for 30 minutes. A huge minus.
TC writers and research, HA!
When eBuddy launches its paid versions, I’ll see how it stacks up against competitors like Beejive and IM+. As long as they haven’t, I prefer to compare apples to apples.
The big difference is scalability and trust. eBuddy was the first independent all-in-one webmessenger and is used to handle millions of users each day. Basically they have been building robust IM software for years and you know what you get when you download eBuddy.
Features wise:
- Server side avatar / status / name
- Server side favorite users group
- One integrated userlist
- Good overall user experience
- Push
- All free!!
It’s a soft launch and they are updating it regular. For now they don’t have Skype or voip/sip support btw.
eBuddy sounds like a cool little app. I bet it drains the battery! Still looks like a nice app I must try out!
More free apps that you’d have had to pay for are available at http://www.appgiveaway.com
But IM+ and beejive allow you to stay logged in for days, ebuddy only 30minutes or so. I am sticking with IM+, but it is a great app just needs a longer logged in time.
Beejive only 24 hours. Doest the 30 minutes only refer to skype?
Ok the 30 minutes is the time you stay logged in to all accounts! Lame, even for free. Beejive is 24 hours.
Push notifications are enabled for 30 minutes after you exit the app. If you open the app within that time it’s reset to 30 minutes again.
As stated in the article, we expect to prolong the push notification window but we’re trying to maintain a balance at the moment.
Did we mention the app is free (unlike IM+ & Beejive)?
Keep your eyes open for updates!
Also the PUSH notification does not work at the moment in eBuddy
No more stupid SMSes. More idiotic IMs.
Great. Is this the death knell for text messages on the iPhone?
How so? All your friends would have to also have the app. It cuts down on texting but won’t replace it entirely.
Trillian is comin out with a client for iphone as well which has a persistant connection and it also keeps messages u may have missed on a server. http://www.trillian.im for info.
I am really looking forward to that!
WAIT FOR MEEBO! Their demo at the iPhone 3.0 event was awesome and meebo is a way better web app than eBuddy – http://www.meebo.com
i guess we all know now where you work don’t we?
wow ..eBuddy for Iphone ..i gonna to try it .
Beejive, AIM, IM+, Agile Messenger and others already have push notifications and have had for nearly 3 weeks. From experience, IM+ lets you stay logged in for 24 hours and includes Skype push.
Please stop doing your best to convince me that Techcrunch is little more than a room full of monkeys sat behind type writers blindly spewing out completely unresearched nonesense.
With the Mollie Sugden debacle less than a week ago I would have thought you might have at least spent a second checking google or searching for ‘with push’ in the app store. It would have saved me from reading this rubbish.
I’d prefer reading the above Techcrunch article ten times over having to read one of your bitter and nasty replies. Keep it up though, because it might mean we’ll be rid of you due to high blood pressure related health issues quite soon
I thought you didn’t like bitter and nasty replies?
Dammit, he caught me
I was hoping no one would notice…
Then enjoy reading factually incorrect stories. I like reading Techcrunch too but it seems recently that the writers have been getting lazy by not doing simple research. A second spent searching for ‘with push’ on the App Store would have shown Robin that the meat of his story (paragraphs 2, 3 and 4) about push notifications was wrong which basically makes this a post about a new iPhone IM client that doesn’t do anything new.
Rankhar, I may have used some slightly stinging words to get my point across but you just wished death on a fellow human being. If you’re that full of hate you should probably check your own blood pressure.
Ok ok, I am sorry, got a bit worked up and went too far in trying to say that bitter and nasty comments are bad, my apologies, never my intention to wish death upon anyone, was just trying to make a nasty and bitter comment as well, but obviously I suck at it
But let’s just give the Techcrunch writer’s a break and not accompany every article with snide remarks about how they suck and all that, if you find a fault, call it, but don’t make it too personal and say they are ‘wasting your time’, they are not here to serve you, they’re just writing stuff, and like everyone, they’re human and make mistakes.
Actually, they ARE here to serve us. You see all those ads that pay for their salaries? Not to mention all of the kickbacks and events. You think any of that would exist without US?
Oh for Christ’s sake, you trolls, I’m talking about free mobile IM apps like Nimbuzz and fring. Read the freaking article.
I can’t, it’s too painful.
please pass the bananas.
No landscape keyboard?! My other complaint is that it doesnt put the message body in the push notification just “You have a message from SoandSo”.
But…at least its a freebie!
We’re working on this, watch the updates…
Appeared to be useless for ICQ users why type in Cyrillic. Receives messages ok, but anyone else will receive something in wrong codepage from an eBuddy user.
We noticed this as well (issues with special characters) and have submitted an update with a fix and some more improvements. Just waiting for Apple’s approval…
forgive the stupid question, but in order for any of these multi-IM services to work, don’t you have to provide them your password to each of your accounts? Isn’t anyone worried about that? Either an external data breach at one of these companies, a disgruntled employee, or just out and out theft by the company itself…?
If this gets Jabber support and 24 hour login, then I will recommend this one to my friends who won’t drop the bling for Beejive.
What the hell is taking meebo so long to release their app?
To all the people who are worried about how much time a particular messenger keeps you logged in after quitting the app, try TextFree Lite. It will keep you logged in forever. It has the potential to truly replace SMS functionality and save you from exorbitant fees the telcos charge.
What happened to those “X is an Techcrunch sponsor” clarifications in the end of the article?
Huh? you think all TC writers ask the ad sales team all the names of the sponsors for any given day before starting posts on startups releasing stuff? When there’s even a hint of conflict of interest with any of the startups I cover and myself, I’ll disclose it.
Pro: Nice look.
Cons:
-Drained my battery completely. I’m now running it on Edge to preserve it for the day.
-When I re-open it to a view a push notification IM, the IM doesn’t show up/gets lost.
-EVERYTIME I exit the application it loses my IM history from even 1 minute before.
-Logs me out/freezes on Edge. Works extremely slow.
Beejive seems to work with the same efficiency on Edge as it does on 3G. It does crash sometimes, but never any IM issues with losing my history/not showing my new IMs.
eBuddy sounds like a great app! I’ll have to try it out on my ipod touch!
jailbroken iphone screenshot. nice! : )
uhh..why does this require age and gender to register.
be nice if they could add xfire!
I tried out IM+ with push, the pushing is not that great at all, not sure if its just me. Very dissapointed tho.. Its an expensive app.. I ws hoping it would be as fast as my exchange email on my iphone.. Guess not.
Excellent application, love it. Ebuddy rocks!
i am really looking forward to that.