Meebo releases iPhone web app

This is my first post, so please bear with me here.

I, like many others, love the iPhone and think there is great potential for the device. However, I am also troubled by the lack of native third party applications due to Apple’s locked system. I have seen numerous posts from iPhone users begging to have their favorite Mac widgets ported over to the iPhone. While I think that would be great, I don’t see Apple rushing to do this until they can somehow monetize these widgets. Well yesterday, as I checked out Amazon’s new iPhone-specific web portal, it dawned on me that Apple can create a huge revenue stream by getting into the ad business, while also giving us all the other widgets we love so much.

Imagine the following:
You plug your iPhone into your computer one day and discover a new tab called myMall. Under this tab is a listing of popular retailers, whose online stores you’d like to have synced to your iPhone. Think ‘bookmarked,’ but much better because when you next turn on your iPhone you find a button on the home page called myMall. Clicking it leads to a page similar to the home page, but each new button is a native widget for the retailers you’ve chosen to sync with iTunes. Now, the appeal here is the absolute ease and pleasure in maneuvering these widgets to carry out purchases.

Imagine now that you have chosen to sync the Barnes & Noble widget with your iPhone. Then, one day, you’re sitting on the bus and see someone reading a book you have been meaning to read yourself, but kept on forgetting. Well, instead of making yet another mental note, what if you could do the following:

1. Click on your B&N widget.

2. Type in your search into a VERY simple and elegant page.

3. Have all of your results come up in the Cover Flow format, with only product pictures showing. (let’s face it, Cover Flow is great, but wasted on the iPod).

4. Scroll back and forth through the result and click on a cover to make it flip and reveal product details (synopsis, ratings, review, other formats, etc.)

5. Quickly add items to your shopping cart.

6. Pay for your items using one of the credit cards saved on your iTunes (this is already done with songs so it can’t be that difficult to build on), or enter new credit card information.

7. Have your item(s) shipped to an address that is saved in your iTunes account, or enter a new shipping address.

8. Enter a pin number of sorts to confirm my order and finalize the transaction.

I realize the process listed above ‘appears’ long, but anyone can see that the actual use of this ‘widget’ would be as fluid and simple as the google maps interface that is currently present on the iPhone. Further, with something like this generating revenue for Apple they should have a greater incentive to provide the non-retail-oriented widgets (like AIM, To Do Lists, lyrics search) that we all been clamoring for.

That is the idea, and I would love some feedback from any and all on its feasibility and:

1. How it can be refined.

2. The ideal pricing structure between Apple and the participating retailers.

3. Security issues regarding the storage of private financial data on iTunes, and any holes I'm not thinking of right now.

4. How Apple’s relationship with Google can be utilized here.

5. The potential reaction from ad giants such as Google.

6. Possible legal ramifications.

7. A list of stores that would work well as iPhone widgets. Personally, I would love to have the following store widgets on my iPhone: Barnes & Nobel, eBay, JetBlue, 1800Flowers, Nike, Best Buy, Cirtcuit City, Walmart, Apple Store, Game Stop, Puma, Pottery Barn, Ikea, Amazon, Ticketmaster, Yankees (team specific widgets?), Fandango, Moviefone, Gap (simple retailers, but no giants like Macy’s?), Expedia, Hotels.com, Sephora.

8. Oh yeah, good idea or bad idea?

Yes, Jive Talk is much better. Still waiting for a solution that will allow it to run in the background and alert of any new messages while the iphone is on standby or I'm in another app. I previously used Shape IM on my 8125 and it did this perfectly. Hopefully someone is working on this feature.

JiveTalk crushes this.

how is this better than jive talk. No tabs. No way to close a conversation. Not faster. There is no attempt to make the UI similar to the iPhone UI like most good iPhone web apps. Could someone explain what I'm missing here?

#12: Never used Blue Phone Elite, to be honest. Couldn't tell you. I think Salling gets all the attention though, and it won an award from Apple.

That said, it won't do you any good if your phone doesn't work with it. If Blue Phone Elite offers a demo, it could be worth trying out. Being able to control your Mac with your phone and bluetooth is a wonderful thing.

I'd love to use Salling but it doesn't show support for my Moto v551. Looks like Blue Phone Elite does, though. What do you think about that software?

oh yeah I can't close chats either, which sucks when I get the AOL System Messenger telling me i am logged on more than once because the app keeps kicking me off and then i have to sign back on again.

Uhh I can't scroll on any of my conversations, so if I miss some IMs from a person, i'm screwed.
also the buddy icons of a person obscure their IM text if they have sent a long message.

#3: That's a friend of mine, and they're using Salling Clicker with a bluetooth-enabled phone to make their Mac automatically set that status when a call comes in:

http://salling.com/

Salling Clicker is a fantastic app, I own a license, and I can't wait for Apple to enable apps on the iPhone, as I'm sure he would bring Clicker to it.

Thanks for the heads up on my little slip up with the image folks. Fixed now.