30.08.2006
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006http://www.sda-india.com/sda/features/psecom,id,549,nodeid,1,_language,India.html
Wablet and Friendster MoBS – the New Generation IM Platforms
The rumor mills spell the arrival of a new Meebo competitor in the Web IM space called Wablet. Development is underway in both San Francisco and the Philippines. The company that is working on Wablet aims to create ‘a highly scalable next generation instant messaging and communications platform’.
Wablet builds in new identity features so you can better decide whether you want to talk with people visiting you. So Wablet’s answer is let you see their profiles when they visit you, they bring ‘badges,’ or links to web sites they own, and a ‘karma’ rating based on their contact with other Wablet users. David Foote, chief executive, calls it all one big ‘Web caller-ID.’
Wablet’s entry into the IM arena is significant. It is the latest of companies, including Meebo and eBuddy that are building IM services in a complex world of Web identity. These IM services, in the form of a little ‘widget’ box, are now being plopped on to your blog, or business web page, or any other site you operate.
Wablet utilises identity, reputation, permissions, queuing, and a flash interface. The business model will be in small part contextual advertising but in large part based on the use of the service by small businesses as part of their CRM strategy.
Here’s how it supposedly works. You register at Wablet, and get a little Web-based console that you can drag anywhere on your computer screen. It keeps track of all the places on the Web where you have sites or a profile, which you have also registered at Wablet.
Wablet looks like a Yahoo or MSN IM box, but runs in a browser. It lets you message within all your existing IM accounts, but also lets you chat with people at other sites you own.
Meanwhile, Wablet is monitoring the people who visit all your sites. Here, one of two things can happen:
If the visitor has not registered with Wablet, your console shows them as an anonymous person, with an empty silhouette, and so you don’t get much information.
* If the vistor has registered with Wablet, then they are given a cookie so that you can see their identity. They show up in your Wablet console with their picture (if they have uploaded one) along with icons from the various sites where they have a profile. So if they have a MySpace profile, they carry a little MySpace icon that you can click on, and go to see their profile. Once you’re satisfied, you can start chatting with the person. In addition to these third-party references, Wablet has its own internal rating system. You can give someone a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down, depending on whether you think they are creepy or not, and that person will carry around that rating with them too. There are some algorithms here, based on the number of contacts a person has, and so on.
* If the vistor has registered with Wablet, then they are given a cookie so that you can see their identity. They show up in your Wablet console with their picture (if they have uploaded one) along with icons from the various sites where they have a profile. So if they have a MySpace profile, they carry a little MySpace icon that you can click on, and go to see their profile. Once you’re satisfied, you can start chatting with the person. In addition to these third-party references, Wablet has its own internal rating system. You can give someone a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down, depending on whether you think they are creepy or not, and that person will carry around that rating with them too. There are some algorithms here, based on the number of contacts a person has, and so on.
Close on its heels is Friendster MoBS, another web-based instant messaging platform that bears a resemblance to Meebo’s GUI. Except that in MoBS, your only contacts are your friends in your Friendster account. Their site reads, “Friendster MoBS is a new web-based chat service. If you look to the right side, your buddy list is pre-populated with your friends. You can move the buddy list window and all other windows to your liking (we keep those settings even if you logout). Expect more features like group chatting and chat integration (jabber, yahoo, aol, and so on.) in the future.”
This puts MoBS in serious contention not only with Meebo, but with local IM-text chat software Chikka (a desktop software), although for now they support only Smart subscribers.
Will MoBS pose yet another threat to Meebo and in the process, Wablet? Time will tell.