Beejive releases JiveTalk IM for iPhone alpha

It seems Beejive's JiveTalk for iPhone is the first IM client -- in alpha or otherwise -- to actually get out the gate for the iPhone. Featuring almost all flavors of IM -- including AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Jabber -- you'll finally be able to message on the go and perhaps even forget that Apple really dropped the ball forgot to include iChat. The service costs nothing to use as all data wanders over WiFI or EDGE, so all you need do is point iPhone's Safari to iphone.beejive.com and get signed on. While these are still early days for web apps for the iPhone, we're expecting a storm of new releases in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on this space.

[Thanks, MobileTelly]

[Matt @ Jul 9th 2007 12:35PM]

Um, normally when you say a company "drops" a product, that means they have discontinued it. When I first read this headline, I thought, "Beejive decided against releasing an IM client for the iPhone???"

Down with ambiguity!

[Matt @ Jul 9th 2007 12:41PM]

Woohoo, I got the headline changed! This is the most power I have *ever* wielded.

[gibber9583 @ Jul 9th 2007 12:56PM]

The title is the 'drops'....look at the top of your browser. 1/2 fixed

[gibber9583 @ Jul 9th 2007 1:11PM]

Woohoo I got the title changed/updated! :-P

[email @ Jul 9th 2007 12:39PM]

or you could become a beta tester for Trillian...

http://blog.ceruleanstudios.com/?p=162#more-162

[ccurtis @ Jul 9th 2007 12:44PM]

Meebo.com works just fine on iPhone and you can use any of the providers you may have. (google chat, aol, yahooIM, etc)

[T H @ Jul 9th 2007 1:23PM]

True, but Meebo is browser based (I believe) and Trillian requires that you have a page of Safari open to use.. BeeJive is the only standalone IM client (once again, I believe.) Which makes it preferable.

[ccurtis @ Jul 9th 2007 1:38PM]

beejive looks to be a web application also. just tailored to the iphone format.

[Erik @ Jul 9th 2007 12:48PM]

I have JiveTalk for my Blackberry and it's perfect. Very well written program. They had just started charging for it last month.

[Kanja @ Jul 9th 2007 1:29PM]

Yep I agree. I beta'd this on my BB pearl, best IM for a cell phone I have ever used.

[Argot @ Jul 9th 2007 12:57PM]

Just give the iPhone a few month or a year and it will probably have almost 50% of the functionality of an ordinary windows mobile phone.

[Meltz @ Jul 9th 2007 1:00PM]

Wow - this application is perfect. Almost to the point that if apple doesn't release iChat in a software update (which I'm sure they will), it wouldn't matter.

[cantankerous @ Jul 9th 2007 1:40PM]

not perfect... it will do till we get ichat.

i've switched from a sidekick over to this device... while you may argue that i've moved from one crippled device to another in many ways... i have to say that apple has the convergence angle nailed. its worth it for me to carry one less device around ALL the time... and i haven't had an ipod for a while, so the purchase was a no brainer.

now give me cut and paste and we'll have a great product here :)

[Cosmic @ Jul 9th 2007 1:45PM]

I'm confused - I thought 3rd party apps wouldn't run on the iPhone. Wouldn't this have to pass Apple approval to work?

[TexRob @ Jul 9th 2007 1:46PM]

Apple did not drop the ball I am guessing. Even the Blackberry Pearl, and many other phones come with IM clients that use SMS instead of data. Anyone care to guess why? IM takes away from the carriers absurd money they make off text messages. My guess is AT&T and Apple are duking it out. Apple will want it to be data based, AT&T will want it to be SMS based. I would go so far as to say it might get released as an app you have to pay for, that Apple will give AT&T a cut from, to make them happy. We'll see if my, and others, speculation is correct that this is the hold up. I told you so ahead of time if we find out that I am correct.

[AlexanderK @ Jul 9th 2007 1:50PM]

Will you be able to receive calls while you are on the IM or they will all go to voicemail? =)

[Will @ Jul 10th 2007 2:15AM]

You can still recieve calls...if you are on a wi-fi network and not using your EDGE.

[ccurtis @ Jul 9th 2007 2:04PM]

Yep, jivetalk is a web-based IM client tailored to iphone's interface. So, safari needs to be open to use it. There are still no third party applications on the iphone.

[aakar @ Jul 9th 2007 2:15PM]

How do these web apps work on the iPhone n terms of multi-tasking or phone-locks? If I lock the phone or hit the home button and go to another application does that kick me off the IM service?

[ian @ Jul 9th 2007 2:47PM]

i've been trying this out for the past 15 minutes or so and it works really well. much better than iphonechat. highly recommended.

[Jamie @ Jul 9th 2007 2:48PM]

Am I the only person with a Bee Gees tune now stuck painfully in my head?

[tkn0spdr @ Jul 9th 2007 3:27PM]

BeeGees, no. But I've got that stupid Seinfeld Bee Movie trailer going round and round in my head... and trust me, that's worse!

Thanks,
David
http://www.FloridaPets.org

[carlos @ Jul 9th 2007 3:05PM]

"How do these web apps work on the iPhone n terms of multi-tasking or phone-locks? If I lock the phone or hit the home button and go to another application does that kick me off the IM service?"

You can switch and use other functions. As long as it does not drop the internet connection you're logged in. I'm using it on Wifi so I was able to make a call while IMing. :-)

[ccurtis @ Jul 9th 2007 3:53PM]

If you lose your connection the web client just waits until you reistablish your connection. Once the connection is back the client logs back in and updates the chat thread.

[Arlo @ Jul 9th 2007 4:18PM]

Wonderful app if you have 10 contacts. I have a few hundred and even on wifi it brings my iphone to a reset inducing crawl.

[marilicious @ Jul 9th 2007 5:42PM]

iwent to that website and it was just a blank screen what am I doing wrong?

[baddog70 @ Jul 9th 2007 6:05PM]

Same here...all I get is a blank screen, and the website address changes to iphone.beejive.com:8489/ajax/ I don't believe iphone supports ajax, does it? Just a blank screen..... :-(

[JJG @ Jul 9th 2007 7:07PM]

ajax means asynchronous javascript. this is an application for SAFARI on the iphone. (read jobs' speech about *not* releasing an SDK for iphone platform software). safari supports javascript, and therefore ajax.

[rockstarbrando @ Jul 9th 2007 7:04PM]

I though the same thing.

[Josh @ Jul 9th 2007 7:09PM]

This is NOT the first chat client for the iPhone. come on guys do your research....

[Mazaka @ Jul 9th 2007 10:13PM]

right, there is also m.heysan.com for example

Works fine with aim, icq and yahoo. no limitations or fees.

[Tom @ Jul 9th 2007 10:09PM]

I had the same problem (blank screen) before too. I guess it's from overload user?? I get it to work now, really nice and simple interface. good job

[Doug @ Jul 9th 2007 10:17PM]

This may not be the first IM client, but it is the first one that was worth bothering with. It has a few bugs, but they nail the interface. My guess in a month this will be a rock solid product. Although I think Apple will introduce a version of ichat, I think the first test of who is in charge in the Apple/ATT deal will be whether ichat is SMS or part of the data plan. One thing have learned it not to bet against apple.

[Kai Cherry @ Jul 10th 2007 5:17AM]

Great! Now that you guys have something else to distract you, heheh, here is my iPhone AIM app of choice: http://tybyim.com.

Written by an AOL employee, this one uses AIM Enabled and OpenAuth technology; you do NOT give your login info to this site, your login is authenticated via AIM itself.

Additionally, its all client-side code :) You can also custimize it with your own css.

TinyBuddyIM sucks...please use beejive instead :D

[iPhone lover @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:18PM]

i think beejive rocks and i dont really care WHY apple or AT&T didnt add AIM but wat ev im cool with it
=) =)
♥ ☮peace&love