Ariel Erlijman

I have just discovered Kool IM web based IM. It’s nice and works with AOL, MSN, Jabber, Google Talk, etc. Another player to follow in the web IM market.

Interactive Networks launches a new web based Instant Messenger and INI Labs to try out the new products. Check them out!

The folks at meebo have launched a fansite and a wiki site. It looks like WebIM competitors will have to work harder to catch up with them.

There are some interesting news today in the IM world. Scott Werndorfer has posted a screenshot of the login screen from the next release of Trillian on their developer blog. MySpace today “soft-launched” their new instant messaging program, MySpaceIM. And Microsoft today announced that their Windows Live Messenger beta is now available to anyone who wants to download and use.

More information about free phone calls with AOL IM at this page

This is my experience with a Sony Ericsson k500 and an Instant Messaging software. First, I have to say that I have a Motorola T120 so took me about 2 minutes to get used to the new interface and commands. After that short time, I was able to take pictures, play games, write messages, and do everything on that mobile phone.

The IM test started when I took a bus riding back home. The whole travel was going to take about 40 minutes, so I had plenty of time to play with the IM. The bus was crowded and I had only one hand available to use the IM. That was no problem because the phone has a very easy interface and controls that make this possible. After creating a new IM user, enterning a username, a password, my first name, my last name and my email, I have to say that, this is a lot of information to type in a keyboard that has 3 or more letters in the same key, I had to type a lot! After creating my user, I played with the interface of the IM and added some contacts I knew were online so I can start chatting. My first message was “test” and my contact answered “test ok”. My second message was “I’m testing a mobile IM from Sony Ericsson and I’m on a bus”. That sentence was too long to be typed in a mobile device, so never do it. My second message was “see you” and my third was “bye”. I was a short chat session right? The problem is that after looking at that small screen, while the bus was moving and trying to concentrate to type long sentences made me feel dizzy. I had to stop my test because I was not feeling well. That whole experience took me about 20 minutes, and only did a few things with it.

The IM is ok. It has everything an basic Instant Messaging program must have: new user, contacts, status and messages. It’s a cool application if you are moving all the time and have plenty of time to type messages. Remember that the other people will be mostly behind a PC and the communication will be slow for them because you need time to type the message.

Final Ideas:
. While I was using the IM, I could not do anything else with the phone and I had to leave the application running to get messages. Is it possible to run this IM on the background? no idea
. The IM is not recommended to be used for long periods because makes you feel dizzy because you must be all the time looking at a small screen specially if you are on a bus.
. You need time to type messages and the other contact, mostly behind a PC, will also need time to wait while you type
. The phone is awesome, it has everthing you can ever dream and more.
. There is no application better than the games this phone has: Tennis and Darts.
. When do you think you can use this application? When you travel by bus: if you travel by bus you may not be able to buy this kind of mobile device, but if you do, you will get dizzy very fast. When you travel by plane? no idea if you have signal at that heights. When you are bored with plenty of time: Why don’t you use the IM in your PC instead. When you have nothing to do and you don’t have a PC around: This situation never happened to me before.

Trillian 3.1 is available right now. With more than 27.5 million downloads in Download.com since …(don’t remember)… it’s without any doubt the people’s choice in multi-network instant messenger. However, there is an older multi-network instant messenger around since 2000 called Instan-t that didn’t catch the people attraction and taste. My question is simple: Why? More features? no.. Better design? maybe… Better marketing? probably. What’s your opinion?

There is a new Google Talk version. Check here for more information. New features include pictures and thems and there is also a version for BlackBerry devices here

Check this article about the actual IM Network numbers and future.

It looks like that AOL has it’s own SDK. Check BigBlueBall about it. If you are interested in SDK IM, check also Instant Messaging SDK 1.0