mobile messaging

100M installs later, Skype retools Android app for modern messaging

Facing stiff competition in mobile messaging, Microsoft-owned Skype updated its Android application Monday with a crisper design meant to emphasize conversations. The application has been installed on more than 100 million Android devices, Skype said.

Skype for Android 4.0 arrives with a contemporary look where messaging -- chats, voice calls, and video calls -- takes center stage.

The application now features a person's most recent conversations on the home screen and comes with call and chat buttons at the bottom of the screen for quick access. Messaging dominates in the Favorites and Contacts tabs as well, as the … Read more

Samsung phone has partial keyboard--Bonnie Cha shall not be pleased

Bonnie Cha, CNET's smartphone reviewer, has not hidden her disdain for the SureType keyboard. So, call it a hunch, but I'm guessing that she won't be thrilled with Samsung's newest messaging phone for T-Mobile.

Instead of a full QWERTY keyboard, the SGH-T349 features a "partial keyboard" with two letters of the alphabet sharing the same button. It's not exactly a SureType keyboard (that's Blackberry's domain), but you won't notice any differences apart from the name. The candy-bar design is standard silver with a touch of lime green.

Besides the obvious … Read more

Mobile messaging grows globally

Worldwide mobile messaging grew nearly 10 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter of the year, fueled by new trends in the messaging market, according to VeriSign, which provides Internet infrastructure services and delivers messages on behalf of carriers and content providers.

The company reported Tuesday that VeriSign enabled more than 58.3 billion messages per day during the third quarter of 2008. This was up from about 52 billion messages sent during the second quarter of 2008.

On average, this means that VeriSign facilitated the delivery of about 634 million messages per day during the third … Read more

Under the Radar: Mobile messaging and media sharing

In the Messaging and Sharing track at Under the Radar 2007, four evolving players hawk their wares. I recently covered two of them, Trutap and Utterz in the mobile social networking space.

Heysan (CNET review) is a free mobile instant-messaging service that connects to major IM networks, including Windows Live Messenger (previously MSN), Yahoo Messenger, AIM, ICQ, and Google Talk. The wholly Web-based service is roughly modeled on Meebo, with its single buddy list and tabbed conversations. Heysan is ad-supported.

Trutap is a downloadable app that aggregates instant messaging, picture messaging, photo uploading, social network access, e-mail, and SMS in … Read more

Another IM solution for your iPhone and browser: eBuddy

eBuddy is a strange mix of a typical Web company. While the lowercase "e" in front of the name might suggest it's a survivor of the early 1990s dot-com boom, it actually started out in 2003 and resides not in the Silicon Valley, but Amsterdam. It's also one of the few companies I've seen that has put almost its entire press kit on Flickr. eBuddy specializes in Web-based IM, which might sound familiar if you've ever used Meebo or the Web version of your favorite chat client. eBuddy works with three of the major … Read more

Win some, lose some

Database and mobile software maker Sybase reported its first quarter results Thursday. Pro forma earnings reached 27 cents a share, beating Wall Street analysts' estimates by a penny.

That's the good news.

Revenues, however were slightly weaker than what Wall Street soothsayers were expecting, coming in at $230 million, verses their expectations of $231.6 million. The company's stock got punished, falling 6.8 percent to $24.42 a share at the close.

That's the bad news.

John Chen, Sybase's CEO, says he's baffled by the street's reaction, given that revenues overall were up … Read more