 | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
| Available in | Multilingual |
| Headquarters | Amsterdam,Netherlands |
| Founder(s) | Paulo Taylor Jan-Joost Rueb Onno Bakker |
| Services | Instant messaging |
| URL | www |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | 2003; 23 years ago (2003) |
| Current status | Active |
eBuddy is a privately held Dutch software company that offersinstant messaging services. As of 2011, eBuddy reported 100 million downloads.[1] The company's flagship service isXMS, a proprietarycross-platform instant messaging service.[2] After some changes of ownership, the company is now again owned by its original founders, Onno Bakker and Jan-Joost Rueb.
XMS is a proprietary cross platform instant messaging service.[2] At one point, XMS was processing over 17 billion messages a month exchanged between more than 30 million unique users - 100,000 users were signing up daily and 1.5 billion banner ads sold on web.[3][4] In a 2011 review, the head of the BerryReview team mentioned that the service has many features in common with other cross-platform messaging services.[5] It does include some multimedia features: users can send images and videos and share their location. XMS is available foriOS,Android,BlackBerry, NokiaSeries 40, andWindows Phone 7 devices. There is also aweb-based client, called "Web XMS", for computer users.[6]
On November 4, 2014, eBuddy XMS scored 1 out of 7 points on theElectronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging scorecard. eBuddy XMS received a point for encryption during transit but lost points because communications are not encrypted with a key the provider doesn't have access to (i.e. the communications are notend-to-end encrypted), users can't verify contacts' identities, past messages are not secure if the encryption keys are stolen (i.e. the service does not provideforward secrecy), the code is not open to independent review (i.e. the code is notopen-source), the security design is not properly documented, and there has not been a recent independent security audit.[7][8]AIM,BlackBerry Messenger,Hushmail,Kik Messenger,Skype,Viber, andYahoo Messenger also scored 1 out of 7 points.[7]
eBuddy Chat was a line of multi-protocol instant messaging clients: it allowed users withFacebook Chat,[9]MSN,Google Talk,Yahoo Messenger,ICQ andAOL accounts to chat free of charge in one aggregated interface.[10] eBuddy Chat supported aWeb interface and also supportediOS,Android,J2ME and mobile Web-enabled devices. In 2010, it was named one of the five finalists for "Best Mobile App" in the Mashable Awards.[11]
With the move toward mobile, in 2013, the company announced that it was discontinuing development of itseBuddy Chat multi-protocol instant messaging clients.[12][13]
eBuddy was originally developed by Paulo Taylor. His idea was established as a consequence from a bet to developMSN Messenger, as it was named in 2003, for amobile phone. After several weeks he won the bet, and uploaded the application to a server.[14] A web version was soon developed following users' demands. As user traffic spurred, Taylor decided to take the idea further. Originally backed by Prime Technology Ventures and Lowland Capital Partners and headquartered inAmsterdam,Netherlands, with offices inSingapore andSan Francisco, United States.,[15] after a successful partnership with Japanese-based GREE, eBuddy was sold via an acqui-hire to Booking.com.[16][17]
