Rating: Responds to user pressure
Pressure from existing desktop users has led to Xobni launching a mobile version of its product for the RIM Blackberry, according to Xobni’s Eric Grafstrom. Best known as an add-in for Outlook, Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry offers fast-searching for emails, addresses and SMS.
Xobni can best be described as a mixture between an email (Outlook) add-in and an artificially intelligent customer relationship manager (CRM) client. It’s obvious that what the company really wants users to do is sign up for an extra service called Xobni One.
Xobni One is a service to link information held within Microsoft Outlook and mobile versions of Xobni. The main aim is to provide a more comprehensive and up-to-date address book on the mobile device.
The company claims is that it can make contact information for every person a user has ever communicated with in Outlook immediately available on the BlackBerry. No need for any manual keying-in.
It’s not just addresses , though – it’s a full PIM/contact management application. So it also provides access to calendar appointments, too. All while integrating with the native BlackBerry apps.
Being a mobile client, it provides access to recent SMS messages and phone calls. It also claims an automatic phone number extraction facility which should be useful.
Xobni Mobile is currently compatible with virtually all BlackBerry devices including the Tour, Curve, Bold and Storm smartphones. There’s no mention of other platforms yet – not even Windows Mobile or Apple iPhone.
The product is available for download from here.The company is expecting to have the app available for downloading from the BlackBerry App World but it’s pricing mechanism is a bit strange.
Xobni Mobile on its own costs $9.99, but if you go for Xobni Mobile with Xobni One then the price drops to $6.99 but you pay a $3.99 recurring monthly fee. The company didn’t provide pricing in Sterling or Euros.
If you want to use Xobi Mobile with any of these other email systems – Google mail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, and Lotus Notes all you do is download the app without Xobni One.
It might just catch on – especially if you master Xobni for Outlook on the desktop first. Silly product name though.
