AIM/yahoo/msn chat using sms application

[cmaier]

http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2007/07/06/using-aim-ichat-over-sms/

 

[braj]

My guess is you will see an AT&T widget that does chat over SMS like they have for the Treos. You better have unlimited SMS for this though. One day's chat sessions for me can be as many as 200.

This wouldn't be a terrible solution if Apple could streamline doing so and allow the major IM systems to use the SMS app. You would have all your messaging in one place, that helps the ease of use. Only thing is chat on the iPhone effectively would be $20 a month.

 

[cmaier]

I'm sure apple is going to release an app that does tcp/ip-style chat. Rumor is it's coming soon.

Also, meebo apparently works, so those who don't want to pay for the bigger SMS packages do have a solution at the moment.

 

[braj]

I think a lot has to do with the AT&T agreement. That would be an interesting read.

 

[AnteL0pe]

No way Apple makes you use SMS for iChat. Though iChat, which Apple is sure to release for the iPhone, only supports AIM.

 

[cmaier]

Note that apple seems really chummy with google lately, particularly regarding the iphone. I would be surprised if a googletalk solution is not forthcoming. Similarly Yahoo (which is also very tightly tied to AT&T via their DSL connection).

All just speculation, of course.

(And, of course, in the mean time there is still meebo.)

If you load a page like meebo, then switch out of the browser to another application and go back to meebo later, is meebo still running? does it continue to operate, receiving new chats, while you are out of the browser?

 

[braj]

No way Apple makes you use SMS for iChat. Though iChat, which Apple is sure to release for the iPhone, only supports AIM.

I don't know, we'll see. Again, AT&T released their own chat app for Treo that does use SMS, so you get billed for every message. There is some precedent that they like this model, obviously it serves their interest. Something like this is the Apple/ATT agreement may be why iChat wasn't included already. This would be a big motivator for people to give ATT $20 more a month.

 

[cmaier]

On howard forums, the rumor (which seemed believable, based on the source and the double-checking of the source's identity) was that chat is coming, and it won't rely on sms. I think they said, however, it will be integrated into that same program, so you can mix sms and ichat stuff in the same program. There was some technical reason stated for the delay (something to do with waiting for leopard? i cannot recall at this point.)

I wouldn't rely to much on the theory that at&t got the better of apple in their contract; so far it seems apple seems to have gotten whatever they wanted. At-home activation, a limited number of iphones sold in at&t stores, support for visual voicemail, etc. I assume the lack of ringtone functionality is not an at&t thing but is an itunes/record label problem.

I think the reason they went with at&t instead of the other carriers is that only at&t was willing to bend over for apple.

Again, beyond the evidence above, I am just guessing.

 

[AnteL0pe]

I don't know, we'll see. Again, AT&T released their own chat app for Treo that does use SMS, so you get billed for every message.

The reports say that Apple went into the negotiations with providers basically saying "you aren't putting your crap on our phone.... but we'll give you a 5 year exclusive." And they still got turned down once. I really doubt Apple will allow ATT to stick anything on there.

 

[cmaier]

More "evidence" of a soon-to-arrive ichat:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/08/atandt-survey-hints-at-ichat-application-for-iphone/

 

[mikec#IM]

The real question - why wasn't chat included out of the box? So obvious it's painful.

 

[cmaier]

On another forum the rumor was it had something to do with the leopard timetable, but who knows.


ps: also, it's not like there aren't several (albeit annoying) workarounds. And I've been using my treo 650 without IM for years. Though I would hope apple will fix this soon, and support networks other than AIM (jabber would be great).

 

[mikec#IM]

On another forum the rumor was it had something to do with the leopard timetable, but who knows.


ps: also, it's not like there aren't several (albeit annoying) workarounds. And I've been using my treo 650 without IM for years. Though I would hope apple will fix this soon, and support networks other than AIM (jabber would be great).

No chat client due to Leopard? That makes no sense.

Workarounds? This is Apple - elegance, simplicity, and it just works.

Workaround are hackish stuff, not for the masses. (and from the "workarounds" I've seen for chat, they seem to be more "stumblearounds".

Face it, Apple poochy-le-screwy by not including it (or even having it developed back in January - c'mon - Interactive instant messaging would have been a grabber. (not any of this threaded SMS nonsense.

 

[cmaier]

I believe the leopard issue had to do with actually using the same code for both, I simply don't recall. I'd rather that they take some time and do it right; phone seems buggy enough as it is. And I'm not sure this is as critical a feature as you seem to be implying. I personally don't know anyone who does IM on their phone, though I'm sure lots of people do. But that's still a lot of customers who can live with email and SMS.

 

[mikec#IM]

I believe the leopard issue had to do with actually using the same code for both, I simply don't recall. I'd rather that they take some time and do it right; phone seems buggy enough as it is. And I'm not sure this is as critical a feature as you seem to be implying. I personally don't know anyone who does IM on their phone, though I'm sure lots of people do. But that's still a lot of customers who can live with email and SMS.

I think many people find IM a critical app. And nearly everyone I know uses IM on their smartphones/PDA.

Anyway, I'm sure they will come up with something.

 

[cmaier]

By the way, I also don't think web-based chat is such a horrible thing for now (meebo, and soon, apparently, trillian). Most people I know use web-based chat anyway (either gmail or the flash google/ig widget, or meebo). The trillian solution, from the screenshots, looks particularly nice, and there is little technical disadvantage since you either way you are using tcp/ip.

I'm afraid ichat, when it arrives for iphone, won't support anything but aim, which will render it useless to at least half the people who use IM. Right now, apparently, you can load up meebo in safari and chat on all the major IM networks (though you have to manually resize windows since it's not iphone optimized as of now).

 

[cmaier]

Yet another safari-based IM solution: http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/09/beejive-drops-jivetalk-im-for-iphone/

Not a lot of reviews yet, but the few that are there are very positive.

 

[braj]

Could Safari be in the background and allow you to get notifications of chat thru the browser? Or on standby?

 

[cmaier]

When I tried the iphone in the store, it seemed like the browser kept running in the background when I switched away and came back. Not sure what happens if you are standby, though.

 

[AnteL0pe]

I think many people find IM a critical app. And nearly everyone I know uses IM on their smartphones/PDA.

Anyway, I'm sure they will come up with something.

I'm not sure i know anyone who would consider it a critical app as most people dont have it on their phones at all. There were never any good, free IM apps for Palm OS so i rarely used the one i had. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw an iChat client that supported both AIM and gtalk which is all anyone i know uses.