iPhone Spark

And another challenger has entered the ring of web-based IM clients. This time it’s Meebo, who knows a thing or two about that setup, having been providing web-based IM for computers for almost two years now. However, their web client proved to be a little too intensive for mobile devices, prompting many of their users to ask for a mobile client.

The iPhone, if anything, only intensified the demand, especially given the lack of a built-in IM client. And so Meebo obliged, today launching their revamped interface. Having a full blown web-client accessible on desktop computers, along with an existing userbase of around six million, puts Meebo in a unique position vis-a-vis their competitors. They decided to trim down the mobile client to only the features that you’re likely to use online. So there are custom away messages, for example, but they’re synced from your Meebo account. And there’s no buddy management in the mobile version either. Plus, your buddy list, away messages, and even chat history can be sucked down from your Meebo account as well. Of course you don’t need to sign up for a Meebo account unless you want all those extra features; you can just log directly into the service of your choice, whether it be AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, GTalk, ICQ, or Jabber and start chatting away.

So far, what I’ve seen of Meebo has been impressive. Is it enough to unseat my current favorite, JiveTalk? I’m not sure. The proof will be to see how it works in real world examples when I need to dash off an IM with no Wi-Fi around and my EDGE connection hanging by a thread.

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