Support of Real Time Communication and Messaging Comes With Mango
The Windows Phone Developer Newsletter was just distributed by Microsoft and in it they state that a feature of Mango is “support of real time communication and messaging”. So what are they talking about here? It sounds like somewhere between Live Messenger and possibly even Lync. Why is this big big news? Well Live Messenger is the #1 messenger in the world. Aside from including communication between people signed on to Live (which you can do on a PC, through the web and through various apps but the WP7 version is weak) it also includes support for Facebook chat. Yup, always connected chat between all of your contacts is coming to your phone. That’s fancy. That’s a BBM killer in fact since it’s already used by a larger based, spreads across platforms and if they implement this to its fullest it will also be their real time chat method. And I’m referring to voice here, not just text base as Messenger can make video calls, send audio clips, send pictures. It does lots of things and that’s why the current Windows Phone app is such a failure.
Now let’s see how far they take it…
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They need to take it to the extreme. Indeed this would make BBM look like amateur hour if done right.
Who uses live chat?! Facebook and gmail have dominated IM for years now…
Ever heard of beejive? All this is already happening on iPhone and android…
@Chris: No Facebook and gmail have not been ruling IM for years, People just started using Facebook chat maybe in the last year. Point of it all is that IM is still the largest IM network in the world. When it is released by Microsoft it will be a native app/service and the integration should be widespread and unmatched.
Beejive is a 3rd party app and although it is cross platform people know Live Messenger to be tried and true. Nothing against Beejive but for those who are on the PC side of things a native, feature rich Live Messenger app is a great addition to the Windows Phone OS.
I’m still trying to understand what Facebook is about? Me and my mates decided to try it together to motivate us. But it still didn’t work. I’m certain that I ain’t missin out on much?
Facebook is social networking. Only works well if you know a lot of people, and it helps if they all have facebook mobile. And apparently over 500 million people can’t be wrong. Personally, I love it. Keeps me in touch with friends and family.
As for Live messenger.. Aside from Office Communicator for secure intranet IM, I never use Microsoft for chatting. In fact, I don’t know ANYONE that uses live IM on a daily, or otherwise, basis. I have literally hundreds of contacts in gmail chat, at least a few dozen are always online. AIM is still a big one, but most people signed into aim are signed in via gmail and it just makes it a bit redundant. Facebook chat and messaging has grown a lot over the past couple years. If my experience is anything to go by, the last thing anyone wants is a native client. Being able to access your chats, video chats, phone calls etc, all through gmail, and soon to Facebook? Why use anything else? The worlds largest website and the best email provider can get you in touch with everyone you need to be in touch with.
But then again, if your phone doesn’t support it….