No iChat, No Problem!

I, as well as other iPhone aficionados, was very disappointed in the lack of an Instant Messaging client. However, within no time, IM web apps began to pop up. My crave for IM had been satisfied!

Among the first IM web apps to pop up was one by fellow blogger David Cann. Simple yet satisfying, you basically use your finger to flick (drag and release) your buddy list up and down like you’re supposed to on the iPhone. Click a buddy to start a conversation. You can open multiple conversations… flick left/right to change conversations. To login, simply visit http://davidcann.com/im on your iPhone.

This lovely application did, however, have some worrying fine print posted on the front page. Call me old fashioned, but this worried me:

“Log in with your AOL IM account. No data is logged, but all of your information does pass through my server. I am not harvesting any information. This app is server intensive, so I’m limiting sessions to 10 minutes for now.”

I know, I know. I’m paranoid. But seriously, the idea of my IM account information floating around in David Cann cyberspace bothered me a bit. Beyond the fact that this might not be the most secure web app in the world, I did have some other legitimate gripes:

Known Issues:

• No groups.
• No buddy icons
• Opening more than 4 conversations gets unruly
• Slow loading
• 10 minute usage limit

I used David’s app for a while. That is, until I stumbled across my friends at BeeJive. Seriously, this thing rocks my socks (I’m a dork).

Browsing to iphone.beejive.com , you are able to basically use iChat as if it was a native application. It shows your entire buddy list complete with: footers that show their away message, color coded icons like iChat to show their status, popups that notify you when you have a new instant message, and header categories that organize conversations. If you’re talking to a friend, you can easily click a little bubble icon to switch back and forth between convos almost instantly. And don’t worry, this is all in real time. I tested it and there was literally no delay.

Basically, I’m impressed. Bravo, BeeJive, bravo.