Elibom
Anyone with even a passing interest in the mobile phone industry will be aware that handset-makers are desperately trying to differentiate themselves as much through the unique software platforms and services they offer as their hardware.
It's probably all Apple's fault, as usual, the iPhone was so paradigm-breaking that it's been very difficult to generate buzz around a handset launch since. The Google Nexus one got a lot of buzz, but then everyone was all disappointed that it was merely a good touchscreen phone, as opposed to something that would end poverty, cure cancer and save the panda.
By far the most popular way OEMs and MNOs are trying to ‘add value' is by facilitating social networking. So we get Motoblur HTC Sense and Vodafone 360, and most phones now encourage you to sign-in to all your social media sites when you first start them up.
The problem is, there are also third parties offering this sort of thing, one of which is Xobni (inbox backwards). This started as a plugin for Microsoft Outlook, designed to index all your outlook contacts, display information about them like contact details and past activity, and access their various social networking personas.
Today, Xobni announced the launch of its mobile product. Having designed the PC version for the most common PC email client, Xobni has logically launched its mobile product on Blackberry. There's even an extra bit called Xobni One, which is a service that shares information between the mobile and Outlook versions.
Below is a video showing what it's all about. In the US, Xobni Mobile costs $9.99 as a standalone product. If you combine it with Xobni One it costs $699 plus $3.99 per month, or at total of $39.90 if you commit for a year. There's no unique pricing for the UK - you just pay what today's exchange rate dictates.
