Oh great, another messaging app. But now that these are clearly ubiquitous social tools, we’ll have to get used to seeing new ones launching that aim to evolve the genre and twist the narrative. That’s the case with Just.me, which launches out of private beta this morning with an iPhone app now available for download. Based in California and created by Keith Teare, former co-founder of TechCrunch, Just.me claims to be both more open and more expansive than other group messaging apps. In the process, it aims to make some of its rivals, like WeChat, Line, and Whatsapp, look dated, and perhaps even kill off the likes of Path and Facebook.
The app’s mantra is that it wants to be more open, and so it allows you to send messages to your contacts via email and SMS, even if they do not use Just.me. As for how it’s different from other smash-hit messaging apps, the startup explains:
There is a collection of messaging apps that do a great job providing a chat-centric user experience that excels at supporting quick, transient communications. Just.me is capable of supporting this type of messaging, but in addition supports more complicated interactions in a way that captures memories as a by-product of natural human interaction. Additionally, these messaging products require that each user has installed the app; Just.me enables you to message anyone in your address book – or if you know their phone number or email address – whether they have installed Just.me or not.
Not fun enough
The Just.me team is keen for this to succeed in Asia, and so the app launches in 32 languages across 155 countries. With Asia-made apps WeChat, Line, and KakaoTalk having half a billion collective registered users, Just.me will need to make the case that it’s the next stage in the evolution of this kind of social media. But those rivals are building strong, broad social platforms – encompassing things like e-publishing, social gaming, and eventually even mobile wallet payments – so this new Californian app will have a tough time persuading people in Asia that its app is both useful and fun. Indeed, though Just.me looks great, it doesn’t look fun enough. Yes, animated emoticon stickers packs are silly and very chat-centric, but they’re still a big draw for lots of people.
With no Android app yet available, I’ve not yet tested the app, so I’ll have to reserve judgement for now. There’s a specific China launch happening on Friday morning on Skype (since the startup’s preferred G+ Hangouts are blocked here), so I’ll take a look at the app then.
But from all the screenshots (see more below), it looks like a clever amalgam of messaging and a Facebook/Path-esque social network, replete with simple privacy controls. While I personally wouldn’t ditch WeChat for this – I use WeChat video calls quite a lot, and that’s a feature missing from this new challenger – I’d consider using Just.me instead of Facebook or Path (I have a one-in-and-one-out policy with signing up for new social services), and also as a replacement SMS app as well. The app also serves as a really neat personal diary.
What do you make of Just.me? Let us know in the comments.
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