TextMe Blog

TextMe teams up with Open Garden

Want to communicate without connectivity, Wi-Fi or otherwise Simple, just use 

TextMe powered by Open Garden!

As you may have seen, Open Garden has just teamed up with TextMe. Is that just a case of the coolest cross-platform free communication app teaming up with the coolest mesh networking app you may ask? Well, that is that indeed and much more.

Let us start with TextMe, if we may. Our mission is clear, turn any connected device into a smart phone for free. Simple, you may say; alas, many a time are we blocked in our noble endeavor for lack of bandwidth, or even worse, lack of access. Yes, dear user, we know how painful it is not to be able to phone, video chat, chat, text, send IM, with TextMe when Wi-Fi is down or 3G or 4G networks are found wanting.

So we thought of something.

The dumbest smart phone (there is one, it may be from Finland) packs more bandwidth than the entire Nasa needed to send people to the Moon and back. That is what I call “too much” bandwidth, and - that is the beauty of it - most of the time, it is not being used, IT IS IDLE.

Seeing this, one company, our partner Open Garden, developed some fiendishly clever software so that idle capacity could be shared especially with Open Garden users lacking connectivity.

See? at the same time, TextMe users with (triumphant trumpets) a constitutional right to communicate for free but (boo) no connectivity and (chimes) in the other corner, (start the violins) lots of people with idle bandwidth offering it to others; (the biggest drums available) : problem solved !

So go on, download TextMe - together with Open Garden - and turn your preferred device into a free phone everywhere there is an Open Garden user near you.

Even more freedom of speech, text and video coming to your Droids

Don’t you think it is a bit unfair that iOS devices would behave like little chatterboxes - Siri here and Siri there - when Android phones only utter their names in the gravest voice possible : “Droid” ?

We do, and so are we coming to the rescue with our brand new Android application, so that Droids’ and Droids’ users freedom of speech is fully respected. 

Our new Android application will allow users to send text messages, call any phone numbers in the USA, Canada, and 40 other countries for free, and enjoy Free Video Calls.

It was long overdue but as you know, we are only coming out with a product once its meets our quality standards (don’t laugh in the back, we do take quality personally).

So here is what you need to remember, when thinking about TextMe - which we believe you do all the time pretty much the same way we do : with the new Android version, TextMe is now the first and only full featured communication application to be available both on iOS (iPhone and iPod Touch) and Android devices.

Let’s Celebrate … And Call for FREE!

Fireworks, families gathering in the summer sun, red white and blue festoons floating in the wind, yes! Let us all salute the Union in our own way.

This is a small one from our team for every american user, and especially for our brave men and women from overseas using TextMe : on July 4th calls to the US using TextMe are to be free.

So wherever in the world you may be, on this glorious day, don’t hesitate to perfect the Union by giving a free call to your loved ones. It’s on us.

Let’s Talk

It has been a long time since our last post; let us talk. When I say us, I really mean you!
We have been working hard at it and we are now proud to introduce our brand new free voice service. Our users already enjoyed free IM, free texting, free voice mail and now each of you will be able to put and receive Voice and Video calls for free using TextMe

Our vision for TextMe is actually very simple, we believe in delivering a completely free telecommunication experience to our users, across all platforms and all types of communications. The introduction of voice is yet another step in that direction. A major one we believe.

We took our time to do it well as we also remain deeply convinced the key to success is quality, from the very first experience of the service: our engineers have been burning the midnight oil to deliver the best app and our customer service will focus on getting your feedback so that we keep on improving.

Now, you will notice as well that our designers have not been sitting idle either: we have completely overhauled the look and feel of our app from the color environment up to our new logo. While keeping it simple, we wanted to bring it to the next level by incorporating seamlessly the voice communication capability into a crisper design. Whether we succeeded remains for you to tell us.

 But enough with the chitchat, let’s talk! Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Thank you guys! Thanks to your votes, About.com just granted us the 2012 iPod/iPhone Readers’ Choice Award for best texting app. We’re not going to hide it, awards are good for the ego ; we can only be ever so grateful for your endorsement as we realize there is robust competition out there.

Together with our stellar reviews on the App store, we have the weakness to believe this award validates our core strategy, a strategy centered on quality and reliability.

You see, we could have spent TextMe resources on something else than trying to deliver a free, reliable and smooth communication experience, but we chose otherwise.

But enough with self-congratulation already, our engineers have dived back in their lines of code, so stay tune for more great features coming soon and remember, there is something about TextMe!

The Wonderful World of Mobile World Congress 2012

Well, you know what they say, sometimes shift happens. And hearing the panels and announcements made at the Mobile World Congress, a lot of shift has happened already.
 
Sure you had the customary launch of the next iPhone- iPad-killer and it’s true that the Beam is a beautiful thing but, come on guys, aren’t we all waiting for when the iPad3 will be out! I believe device fatigue has become systemic: obsolescence is organized around ever shortening life cycles, the next big thing is weeks away if not tomorrow! It is like the industry had decided collectively to Osborne itself. Also, the 2012 MWC showed time again that device manufacturers have yet to solve the problem of platform fragmentation. They seem to actually refuse to do so, still ardent believers in the silo sales model and terribly afraid of losing their fast eroding differentiation power.
 
The big lesson, if you ask me, delivered by the 2012 MWC is that hardware isn’t ruling the game anymore. Don’t get me wrong, it is still very very important to have super-tech gizmos we can drop on our toes and I cannot wait to bother the team with wall-to-wall corporate PowerPoints springing from my phone, how cool would that be!
 
It is important, and yet, Apps rule. A lot of power is now in the hands of little guys like us who provide services previously cordoned off by operators and hardware manufacturers. It is striking to see how in a couple of years, we moved from a telecommunication universe where everything revolved around device manufacturers and telecom operators to a mobile centric world where the App providers have become the pied piper of the corporate pack. Yep, you could see clearly this during the panels of 2012 MWC and nobody’s talking about going back. The app exeprience matters more than the device itself: I want to play Angry Birds the same way on all my devices, don’t force me to pick just one device for playing Angry Birds!
 
Then, there is the Facebook announcement. Facebook is certainly powerful enough to project a reality distortion field that is so strong, it makes its partnership proposal with telecom operators relevant. Yet, we reckon the jury will be out for a while on this one and that the Facebook move in mobile is a defensive one.
 
As far as we can tell, Facebook has not – yet - found a business model on mobile, not – yet – decided on a Facebook phone. Take for example how things may go with Zynga and how threatening that may be for Facebook. As Zynga’s mobile business catches up, potentially becoming dominant, less and less of its game dollars will flow through Facebook meaning significant lost revenues for the social network.
 
What do you do when you have not found a way of entering the communication ring by yourself, like Apple did in the brave old days? Well, you partner with the operators until you can either bypass them or grind them down. Here is what I believe Facebook has really said during the 2012 MWC: “we don’t know yet how to crack mobile but until we do, we will work with the grey haired guys as a second best”.
 
On a different note, the 2012 MWC was also interesting for what was said on platforms. Android is going stronger by the day. Alternatives face an uphill battle (one may say a vertical battle) to reach critical mass. Nobody believes anymore in RCS, the OTT (Over the Top) app framework, since Apple jinxed it in style. Similarly, Joyn is a desperate move by operators probably leading nowhere fast as the world does not need another platform and one can count on Google not to facilitate unification outside Android.
 
It’s a wonderful world, I told you so.

Christophe BACH
Founder

TextMe is a finalist in the About.com Readers’ Choice Awards!

Thank you TextMe users: thanks to you, we have been nominated as a finalist in the About.com Reader’s Choice Awards in the Best Texting application category!

Please keep helping us and cast your votes online to help us win:
Vote for TextMe here!

Your support and help is awesome! We feel honored to have you as users!