eBuddy to launch VoIP on mobile messenger

Will not work on tablets, computers, where Skype has an unshakable hold

eBuddy, an Amsterdam-based technology firm that has some 30 million users on its instant chat plaform, wants to take on Microsoft-owned voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) giant Skype. But not on tablets and computers, where Skype has an unshakable hold. Instead, eBuddy wants to spend a part of its 10 million euro ($14 milion) product development chest to build its VoIP platform on smartphones, J J Rueb, founder and chief executive of eBuddy, told Business Standard.

Backed by early-stage investors Lowland Capital and Prime Technology Ventures, eBuddy, which offers free instant messaging services through web and mobile phones, is betting on the rising smartphone users in India, where it already has more than 4.5 million consumers.

Not just inducting new features to its existing instant messenger, eBuddy has recently inked a pact with handset maker Nokia, which has more than 20 per cent market share in the world’s second largest population, to bring India-specific smart phones bundled with eBuddy’s messenger apps.

“The India-specific handsets would be developed keeping in mind the price sensitiveness of the market,” said Rueb.

“In terms of the number of users, India is one of our focus markets, followed by Indonesia and Brazil. India certainly is a tough market in revenue terms, but things are improving,” said the eBuddy founder. At present, it has about 4.5 million users in Indonesia, besides India, but it lost its grounds in China to QQ, the local messenger giant. However, the US and Europe remain the main revenue contributors for eBuddy, he added.

The scope is huge in India as eBuddy messenger is beyond just exchanging text as users can now exchange pictures, audio and video files using eBuddy messenger, Rueb said. “VoIP is a big market. We might look at adding this to our existing messenger in the future, globally.”

eBuddy, which plans to spend 10 million euros in product development by 2013-14, would soon add the ‘group messaging’ feature to its existing products — eBuddy messenger and eBuddy XMS.

eBuddy chat is an aggregated interface that enables users with Facebook Chat, MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, MySpace, ICQ and AOL accounts. This can be used both on web and on mobile handsets. In March 2011, the company has introduced eBuddy XMS, a free, realtime messaging application for smart phones across all operating systems.