eBuddy reports 10M downloads of mobile chat service
updated
Mobile chatting services are the latest mobile applications to see explosive growth, even as reports roll in of other mobile chat companies biting the dust.
eBuddy, a company that offers an IM service letting users chat across different IM clients, said today that 10 million people have downloaded its mobile application since it launched a year and a half ago.
It reached five million mobile chat downloads in July, and downloads have since accelerated to a rate… Continue Reading
EBuddy raises nearly $10 million, focusing on mobile web chat
Web and mobile-based messaging service eBuddy, based in Amsterdam, has raised $9.6 million from Dutch venture firm Prime Technology Ventures.
In the past, we’ve compared Meebo and eBuddy as rival companies that are trying to let you IM with anyone else on any IM platform — AOL, Yahoo, etc. This past year, the two companies’ products have diverged, somewhat, as each has focused on different ways of building on its respective user bases.
EBuddy has developed its… Continue Reading
Meebo launches Meebo Rooms, to stay ahead
Earlier today, we wrote about the IM players, and noted that start-ups such as Meebo and eBuddy will have to work hard to to keep from getting swallowed by the big guys.
Coincidentally, Meebo had been working quietly on a project that launches tomorrow: Meebo Rooms. They are web-based IM chat rooms where people can gather and discuss a video or other media file that plays from a central media player. The company showed us the… Continue Reading
Instant messaging: feature or product?
Web-based instant messaging services, such as Meebo and eBuddy have had high growth rates over many months. They’ve raked in a lot of funding from hungry VCs. But we see IM becoming a commodity.
So far, these non-aligned startups have offered an advantage. They’ve let everyone communicate with everyone. They’ve aggregated the various IM clients in a single web site, so that someone with GTalk can IM with someone from Yahoo Messenger.
Some, such as EQO, combine… Continue Reading
Roundup: WSJ on sale?, 4Info’s SMS network, plankton, PropertyShark, more
Here’s the latest action:
News Corp makes $5 billion takeover bid for Dow Jones — If the bid is accepted, the owner of Fox News would own the old, gray business media icon, the Wall Street Journal. What next?
PropertyShark takes property snooping a step further — If you thought Zillow, the housing site that slapped a value on your house, was controversial, take a look at PropertyShark. The four-year old New York company outdoes Zillow on the snoopy… Continue Reading
Roundup: FON’s gambit, Obvious, Zachary’s blog, Vox & more
Roundup in Silicon Valley:
FON exploits opportunity to stir up WiFi interest in San Francisco — Search engine company Google is having a heck of a time getting “crazy nut job” local SF residents to agree to its plans for a city-wide WiFi project. So while big Google is stymied, another company, FON, is hoping to slip under the regulatory radar with a grassroots campaign: Offering hundreds of its La Fonera wireless routers at an event it… Continue Reading
eBuddy, instant messaging co., raises 5M Euros in first round
Amsterdam start-up EBuddy, a company that offers web-based way to access instant messaging, has secured €5 million in a first round of capital from Lowland Capital Partners.
EBuddy gives users a way to chat with AOL, MSN and Yahoo accounts without having to install any program.
EBuddy says it has more than 35 million users worldwide, including 4 million mobile users. However, as we mentioned yesterday, traffic statistics in this area are unreliable, and it is unclear… Continue Reading