jaiku

When I heard today that Google bought Jaiku I wasn't surprised. Jaiku is my lifestreaming application of choice and their Symbian app is awesome. They clearly have a knack for UI design and likely have as much native Symbian experience as anyone out there. What with Google's recent mobile push, I immediately figured Google was after Jaiku's mobile app. I expressed this view in the office and was immediately rebuffed.

The overwhelming opinion was that Google is looking to get into lifestreaming (or activity streaming), which raises the question "Why not Twitter?". Twitter is the lifestreaming champ at the moment, thanks largely to their brilliant API, and its founder, Evan Williams, previously worked at Google after his company Blogger was acquired. I went online and found out that the very same debate was going on quite prominently on the web. Mashable asks the same questions, O'Reilly echoes my view, but an email from Jaiku pointing to an acquisition FAQ clears things up a bit:

Q: Why did Google acquire Jaiku?

A: Activity streams and mobile presence are important areas where we believe Google can add a lot of value for users. Jaiku's technology and talented team are a great addition to Google's current application and mobile teams.

Well, there you go; there are the activity steams, the mobile aspect, and Jaiku was probably cheaper. Jaiku has also closed its doors to new users indicating they are looking to improve before they scale again. Having already signed up, I am one of the lucky ones that gets to keep using the service. Personally, I don't depend on Jaiku so I don't have many friends or post many updates. I've just been using it out of curiosity and for occasional amusement. Now that Google has grand designs for it and it's a private beta, I'll probably be watching it much more closely. I welcome new friends, my id is chriseqo if you want to add me. I'll see you on JaigoogKu.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Working for a mobile services company has made me quite dependent on my mobile phone, a Nokia E61i.  I find myself now quite in tune with the mobile industry and wish to share with you my favorite mobile applications.  These applications make my life easier and I'm grateful to have them with me all the time.  To remain impartial, I've removed EQO Mobile from the running, even though I depend on it for all my instant messaging needs.  Here you are, the top five killer mobile apps according to me:

1. Google Maps - I would be lost without this one, literally.
2. Gmail - I use Gmail as my personal email so I find the mobile app very handy, wish there were file attachments though.
3. Widsets - Lets you use the web services you love on your mobile via thousands of custom widgets.  I currently make use of Wikipedia, TechCrunch, eBay, Sudoku, and Twitter.
4. Screenshot - A Symbian gem; the best way to show someone something is to take a picture.
5. Shozu - Lets me share the pictures I take with Screenshot, although good for much more.

Honorable Mentions:

• Opera Mini - The best mobile browser out there, although I find the Nokia browser good enough for me so I don't use this one as much.
• S-Tris 2 - A Symbian version of the classic Tetris, very fast with great graphics.
• Jaiku - A presence sharing, social networking type deal with a great Symbian client.

Got any favorites I missed?  I'd love to hear about them.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist