Mobilechat finally up!

[marksman]

Lol, obviously this was rather popular. This doesn't surprise me

There is no actual evidence of how many people they could have supported.

I suspect they should have easily planned to support more than they did.

It is tiresome to hear their talk about being a small shop.

Nobody cares.... All that does is make me want to not buy their application because besides being undermanned they come across as incompetent in some areas.

I certainly don't trust them to run servers. Being an application developer and server admin have nothing to do with each other. Seeing how there is only two of them, it is HIGHLY unlikely that they have the resources or skills necessary to properly maintain multiple servers to do what they want them to do.

They are way in over their heads at this point, that is how it looks from here anyways. So we shall see when the dust settles. By then I assume some professional im suite developers will have products available and I can say I saved myself $4.00.

I am not concerned about the money, I just don't think the application is going to work in any reasonably consistent manner for a while.

If in 6 months mobilechat is a top 3-5 IM app for the iPhone I will be shocked.

 

[diesel]

There is no actual evidence of how many people they could have supported.

I suspect they should have easily planned to support more than they did.

It is tiresome to hear their talk about being a small shop.

Nobody cares.... All that does is make me want to not buy their application because besides being undermanned they come across as incompetent in some areas.

I certainly don't trust them to run servers. Being an application developer and server admin have nothing to do with each other. Seeing how there is only two of them, it is HIGHLY unlikely that they have the resources or skills necessary to properly maintain multiple servers to do what they want them to do.

They are way in over their heads at this point, that is how it looks from here anyways. So we shall see when the dust settles. By then I assume some professional im suite developers will have products available and I can say I saved myself $4.00.

I am not concerned about the money, I just don't think the application is going to work in any reasonably consistent manner for a while.

If in 6 months mobilechat is a top 3-5 IM app for the iPhone I will be shocked.

yes. what ticks me off about them is how they casually shrug off blame and try to pass it on to their "partners" or vendors. first apple, and now they seem to be blaming their data center for not being ready. they can say what they want, sugar coat it all they want, but ultimately it was bad planning on their part and there seems to be a lot of "fan boys" that are singing their praises regardless, and thereby giving them the sense that they can do no wrong. if it was a free app, i wouldn't even bother but once you begin charging money, then they need to man up and conduct themselves more professionally. Also, the app was so hyped up, i was expecting a production quality, polished app, but based on the time i spent with the app, it was a big disappointment. it was obviously a rush job and very poorly thought out and even poorly executed.

i paid my 3 bucks but feel like i got 3 cents worth of goods. i expect them to get their act together in the very NEAR future so that i can begin to sing some praises as well for their work.

 

[phannon666]

No thanks, Palringo does all these things barring push, which could easily come in an update as no-one can support push yet. I'd rather not waste £1.79 for a near identical app.

 

[Niiro13]

No thanks, Palringo does all these things barring push, which could easily come in an update as no-one can support push yet. I'd rather not waste £1.79 for a near identical app.

Except Palringo cannot edit status message as well as profile

But the main important thing...tap the home button. You're instantly signed out of Palringo.

Tap the home button for MobileChat, and you're still online. Messages received in this state are queued up. Once you return to the application, you receive all those messages. And no longer do we have to suffer the 15 minutes of login for AIM. MobileChat promises being logged on until you tap the logout button.

So there is no identical application. I'd prefer even beejive over Palringo (which beejive also queues up the messages...and it's a web app!)

 

[DonSqueak]

pricey when compared with other existing IM clients. Like Palringo, AIM, etc.. learn to read then get a job.

So basically you're saying that if something costs anything at all, it's pricey? If you compare $3 to $0 it's a difference of $3. If a difference so small is what makes something pricey for you, by all means one COULD argue that you're a bit cheap.

If you say that compared to "for free" a reasonably priced app is "pricey", you get your semantics all wrong. That way, a 20 cent bun would be considered pricey; you'd have to agree that this is a tad ridiculous if you're not living in Somalia that is.

I'd still advise you to get a job if you don't have one already, it helps getting along, and maybe you'll tire in the evening and don't give grief to ppl.

Cheers, dsq.

 

[coolb0yalex]

Except Palringo cannot edit status message as well as profile

But the main important thing...tap the home button. You're instantly signed out of Palringo.

Tap the home button for MobileChat, and you're still online. Messages received in this state are queued up. Once you return to the application, you receive all those messages. And no longer do we have to suffer the 15 minutes of login for AIM. MobileChat promises being logged on until you tap the logout button.

So there is no identical application. I'd prefer even beejive over Palringo (which beejive also queues up the messages...and it's a web app!)

the 'queue' is also in AIM. i never had a 15 minute login for AIM. maybe you didn't update your application? I just find it to be overpriced. I mean , cmon, there are many free alternatives.

 

[mixel]

though I partly agree these guys look unprofessional right now.. Give them a little slack.. Apple had much bigger issues with MM, and they should have been able to predict how much traffic /that/ would get.

I'd like something more like adium without the middleman - the fact it can go down at all like this will likely remain mc's biggest drawback.. I'd want them to add a direct mode to make it the definative multi network client.

 

[Niiro13]

the 'queue' is also in AIM. i never had a 15 minute login for AIM. maybe you didn't update your application? I just find it to be overpriced. I mean , cmon, there are many free alternatives.

Sorry, it's early in the morning.

I meant to say that AIM only keeps you logged in for about fifteen minutes when the application isn't running. Then it signs you out.

 

[dranakin]

I'm looking to buy this as soon as they get the servers fixed. Closest thing to push sounds good. You think they may raise the price of the app, though?

 

[Malcster]

Seems to be back up in a limited fashion at the moment.

Its pretty buggy though, its crashed on me twice and when i got one of my passwords incorrect on one of the accounts, i went back to edit it and my accounts were just 3 white blocks on the accounts page which i couldn't edit or even view!

 

[queshy]

the app just opens and crashes! Useless!

 

[razorianfly]

The servers seem to be running stable currently, messages are slightly delayed, but ... hopefully .. it's back up.

I'll publish a review shortly, once I've had time to familiarize myself with the app and how it functions.

the app just opens and crashes! Useless!

Running mine for me, try turning on/off.

R-Fly

 

[queshy]

The servers seem to be running stable currently, messages are slightly delayed, but ... hopefully .. it's back up.

I'll publish a review shortly, once I've had time to familiarize myself with the app and how it functions.



Running mine for me, try turning on/off.

R-Fly

Did a reinstall. Thanks. Works not (but not really).

I made a new MSN account because none of my contacts are online at this hour...the new contact does not add to my current list. I want my $3.00 back...

 

[queshy]

still "cannot connect to mobilechat" urg

 

[lindstrom]

still "cannot connect to mobilechat" urg

Read you post and tried to connect. Worked on the 1st try. App is rather buggy though. Crashed on me once when I was flipping through the tabs and options. I think that it has potential though.

 

[razorianfly]

still "cannot connect to mobilechat" urg

MC3 requires a persistent connection to Wifi.

I was also experiencing that message, then I switched to Wifi.

R-Fly

 

[queshy]

MC3 requires a persistent connection to Wifi.

I was also experiencing that message, then I switched to Wifi.

R-Fly

I'm in now. Been on a stable wifi connection the whole time. It better work on 3G!

Also, howcome my e-mail notifications aren't working?

 

[lindstrom]

I'm in now. Been on a stable wifi connection the whole time. It better work on 3G!

Also, how come my e-mail notifications aren't working?

I used MC on GPRS as I don't have any EDGE cover where I am at the moment. Worked for me so far.

 

[Ol!ver]

MC3 requires a persistent connection to Wifi.

I was also experiencing that message, then I switched to Wifi.

R-Fly

So it doesn't work over 3G?

 

[queshy]

how exactly do the e-mail notifications work? I'm on my home screen, messaging myself from my Mac and I'm not getting any e-mails.

 

[LinMac]

An IM application for the iPhone shouldn't really need a server side component other than the MSN, AIM, or other servers that the application contacts directly. This type of situation is largely Apple's fault for not allowing any applications except their own to run in the background. (Thread here about it.)

There are just a few concerns about all this:

1) How secure are the MobileChat servers?

Your IM username and password are sent to these servers on a regular basis. That type of information could be very important if you use IM for more than casual conversations with friends.

2) How reliable are the MobileChat servers going to be for the next 6 months - 4 years?

MobileMe and other services have taught us that the "cloud" may not be as reliable as we hope it will be. MobileChat might be just fine, but can we be certain?

3) How will the people behind MobileChat pay for the servers necessary to power the service?

Development of an application takes time and effort. This time is paid for by the sale of an application while updates are covered by the profit of the application.

X hours of the development of 1.0 = XX% of retail price
X hours of future development for 1.x updates = XX% of retail price

Servers necessary to handle hundreds of thousands or more connections at the same time will be a significant cost. These server costs will be permanent as the application (seems to) need the servers to connect at all. Will the servers be online in a few years? Will there be a monthly fee for the service?

I have a lot of questions before I buy this application, but it does look promising for now.

 

[razorianfly]

So it doesn't work over 3G?

I'm not saying it doesn't support edge or 3G [full stop] ..., as I just updated on my blog, when trying to connect using Edge or 3G I received a 'Cannot connect to Mobile Chat' as Queshy did.
When I switched the network over to my home Wifi network, I was signed into the MSN network, successfully.

The current server issues wouldn't stop the service from being able to function over 3G or Edge, so I'd assume this is not yet available.

Still, it's a pretty solid application compared to it's competition.
Worth £2 anyway.

R-Fly

 

[Dingo Dave 69]

Can someone please tell me why this app is getting so much attention, surely Paringo does the same thing, plus it's free?

 

[razorianfly]

Can someone please tell me why this app is getting so much attention, surely Paringo does the same thing, plus it's free?

- Slightly more polished UI than Parlingo
- Will use push when release by Apple (September - message alerts/badges when app is closed)
- Buddy icon support
- IM a phone number
- Alternative to MMS (photo support)
- Away message settings

Those are the main reasons it's caught people's attention.

R-Fly

 

[TwiceNightly]

Just been having a play about with this, seems very nice but one thing occurred to me....

Say I want to sign into AIM using my MobileMe account, well I'm basically sending my email/mobileme account username and password to their servers - not too happy about that tbh and for AOL I may well stick with the official app for that reason.