Monday, October 17, 2011

UberMedia Taking Aim At Twitter With Chime.In

Pasadena-based UberMedia, the Twitter client apps developer headed by Idealab's Bill Gross, appears to be further moving away from its reliance on Twitter, and is getting set to launch a new service called Chime.in---a direct competitor to Twitter's service. In multiple reports, plus an early release on Apple's iTunes store, UberMedia's plans for its own, social updates service--which allows users to share text, pictures, and more in essentially the same way as Twitter--leaked out this morning. The service--which is not yet live--is apparently set to launch tomorrow, according to VentureBeat. The new service would further pit UberMedia against Twitter, which has not been shy in cutting off access to UberMedia's various Twitter clients, and has said--in no uncertain terms--that it does not welcome third party client apps for its service. UberMedia has been increasingly moving away from straight Twitter clients apps, and instead moving towards branded, celebrity- and brand-themed social apps and client software. Chime.in has been listed on Idealab's website since at least March of this year.