Sep 28 AT 8:55 PM Anthony Domanico 44 Comments

Beejive IM for Android now available for a whopping $10

Beejive IM for Android is an instant messaging application that allows you to manage all of your IM accounts in an integrated buddy list. Beejive has been in beta for a few months now, and from my limited beta testing experience, Beejive is a fantastic application that under ideal conditions would easily become the multi-account IM application I would recommend you all download immediately.

All that changed today when I learned that Beejive IM was coming out of beta and launching on the Android market for the premium price of $10. Now don’t get me wrong: Beejive is good, but it’s NOT $10 good. Yes, this is what they charge for their iOS and Blackberry equivalents so I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised at the price, but with several high-quality free competitors out there, I think Beejive is going to be hard-pressed to find many people who are going to fork over $10 for a premium instant messaging application. I’d be willing to shell out about $2-3 for Beejive, but will happily settle for an Trillian, eBuddy, or meebo instead.

But I’m just one person. I want to know what you readers think. Are you going to fork out the $10 for the high-quality Beejive IM application, or are there enough free alternatives to satisfy your instant messaging needs? Sound off in the comments!

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44 Comments Join the discussion!

AustinGuest 09/28/10 8:58 PM

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Aim…I remember when I was in the 6th grade.

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AndrewGuest 09/28/10 8:59 PM

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I used it a bit during the beta days.. I liked it, hell I even preferred it more then eBuddy (my previous used app), but now that it’s released they want $10bux for it.. no way…

I can’t even tell you exactly why I preferred it more then eBuddy, so why would I shall out $10 for it? their dreaming.

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wallingsworthGuest 09/28/10 9:03 PM

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hahaha, ten dollars, yea o’right. not even worth a dollar. anyone who pays ten is a complete fool. I’ll gladly be ripping this app :)

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- AustinGuest 09/29/10 12:15 AM
  
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  I mean, I definitely know how you feel and the intent on why you would do such a thing. But that’s exactly why good developers don’t come to the Android Market, or when they do their apps are priced higher.
  
  Long story short, don’t be a dick, and just use a free app that’s better anyway, you’re not sticking it to anyone via stealing.
  
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iskaulGuest 09/28/10 9:06 PM

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$10??? that’s ridiculous. used the beta and it was definitely better than anything else on the market right now but everything else is free. now that they want $10 it’s certainly not worth it.

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- BatfanGuest 09/29/10 10:32 AM
  
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  Especially since Trillian will be out soon :)
  
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ForceFieldGuest 09/28/10 9:07 PM

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Been using eBuddy since the good ole days of J2me. The Android app does everything I need for free.

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AndyGuest 09/28/10 9:10 PM

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Im running their beta and I got there mesg to get it free lol but I would still pay 10 bucks for it

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ChancyGuest 09/28/10 9:20 PM

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Can it make my bed and mow my lawn? What’s that? No? Then, why’s it $10? It can ONLY send IM? Hmmmm….interesting.

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- Mariano KampGuest 09/29/10 2:43 AM
  
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  If you pay $10 in the real world you get your lawn mowed once.
  
  Of course that would only be true if you find a kid that would work for that small fee, a professional company wouldn’t.
  
  I don’t mean you personally, but in general I am very sad about this cheapskate mentality. As a developer I just have to deal with it, but it hurts me as a user. I would really love it to see more high quality apps on Android. But where should apps come from? Most people can’t really put 2000+ hours into something that is just a hobby.
  
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tkGuest 09/28/10 9:22 PM

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Don’t even see the point in running any other IM client than GTalk. Most of my techsavvy friends (the ones that tend to IM) have switched to Gmail a long time ago and the convinience of using Gtalk built into Gmail is reason enough to not use any other IM service.

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- benGuest 09/28/10 9:41 PM
  
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  @tk exactly. I don’t have a need to chat via mobile with friends that aren’t already on gtalk. The built in talk app is good for me.
  Now if you had a bunch of people spread out over multiple services, I could see using a free app… because honestly, how much do you really get accomplished via mobile on chat? Maybe I’m just too old to type fast enough, even with auto complete. :-/
  
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  - DanielGuest 09/29/10 6:32 AM
    
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    And the the ones who aren’t on GTalk are routed through a transport…
    
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JJGuest 09/28/10 9:24 PM

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Hell no. I’m with you. I would’ve paid a couple/few dollars, but I’m not sure I’ve paid $10 for any other app that does so much more. I liked the beta, but they can go straight to hell.

I came across this article while googling to see if there was a newer version of the beta and had to go to the market to check because I couldn’t believe they’d charge that much…

Thanks for nothing beejive!

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Anurag BansalGuest 09/28/10 9:30 PM

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$10…NO WAY. No matter how much better it does, I will never pay $10 for an IM app. eBuddy was really good before Trillian beta came for Android. Now I am using Trillian and I don’t see major differences between the two.
Now if Trillian asks me to pay money to use their app, SORRY. I will be happy with eBuddy too. Once or twice for an IM, I don’t need to pay that much of money.
Never understood why people with iPhone pay $10 for Beejive as well. eBuddy, Meebo and other apps are available for free there too.

May be some people have more money than they can spend, so they don’t try to find the free stuff which is more or less the same. May be they have a misconception that FREE can’t be good.

But in today’s world, sorry Beejive, I will never pay $10 for your IM app unless you give me FREE international calls.

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- Compuguy1088Guest 09/28/10 10:34 PM
  
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  Personally I paid more for it on the iPhone, and it is the top im App. I’ve been using the trillian beta and it seems good.
  
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Matt KatzenbergerGuest 09/28/10 9:32 PM

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Looks like another crappy android IM client to me.
Honestly, Trillian Beta is the best and it still comes up way short of official google talk.

I don’t understand why more devs aren’t using Talk as a template for their own apps.

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Mobile BrazzerGuest 09/28/10 9:36 PM

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Can anyone answer these questions for me-

I am looking for a good IM app where I can use my (ancient I know) ICQ account

AND

it wont log me out constantly like HelloIM or the stock android app would.

Does BeeJive KEEP YOU LOGGED IN?

Can someone tell me the names of alternative free options, and if they keep you logged in?

I’m gonna check out eBuddy.. I was thinkling the Trillian app might be the one for me, but I honestly havent had much time lately to test&find a decent new IM app

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- johnGuest 09/28/10 11:58 PM
  
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  Use nimbuzz. Free and get the job done on 24/7.
  
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chadGuest 09/28/10 9:57 PM

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I don’t even need this app, but if I did, I would just use 4shared.com.

I use 4shared.com when developers charge too much for apps, including atbat2010 which is a total joke at $15, when its just scores and news articles.

I know this hurts the developers, but there’s nothing stopping me from doing it.

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- HansGuest 09/28/10 10:11 PM
  
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  That’s still no excuse to STEAL apps.
  
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  - SarcasticGuest 09/29/10 7:57 PM
    
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    Not that I’m justifying ripping any app out there that charges money, or even justifying stealing expensive apps, but devs should know the kind of marketplace they’re entering. Grossly overcharging for something is going to lead to less sales and more pirating. Plain and simple. They could avoid the issue by being reasonable. I’ll admit I’ve downloaded a few apps I thought were pricey, but I’ve also happily bought reasonable ones or just used free trials instead where available. For instance, Chandroid is one of the best dollars I’ve ever spent. If devs just focus more on being reasonable then that’s a far better strategy than trying to preemptively make up for lost sales due to pirating.
    
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David BullockGuest 09/28/10 9:58 PM

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I was an early Beejive user and I LOVED Beejive on both of my Blackberries. Paid Beejive $25 for a lifetime multidevice license SWORE by it. Without a doubt totally superior to every other IM app Ihad used in Iphone or Blackberry or Android.

That said, they’ve been glacially slow to move, uncommunicative and unsupportive in maintaining their software and announcing ports, I finally gave up and switched to a different inferior app for my iPad and Droid. And now they come back after I’ve spent $20.00+ elsewhere and want premium dollars.

The software was A+

The company gets a #FAIL for taking care of me as a customer

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D.J.Guest 09/28/10 10:22 PM

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I didn’t pay $10 for it when I had my iPhone, doubt I will pay $10 on my DROID either. I’ll see what Trillian costs and make my decision from there.

What would be absolutely best though would be if Google added AIM and Facebook chat into GTalk. That would cover pretty much everyone and we wouldn’t have to rely on pay apps or the horrible, horrible free apps on the Market

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samiamGuest 09/28/10 10:44 PM

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HelloIM was $10. This was $10 when my wife iPhone her iPhone. I would pay ten if I knew they would continously keep up to date. Over beta they fixed a lot per week and I liked the end result.

If you don’t want to pay the ten bucks don’t pirate it. Just use something else. No need to rip the company off because you dont want to pay for it.

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jimGuest 09/28/10 10:52 PM

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Not a chance in hell I’d pay 10 bux for it, lots of free alternatives available

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Bill NyeGuest 09/28/10 11:45 PM

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This app is easily worth $10 if you have a good amount of friends that haven’t switched to Gtalk for whatever reason. I think I actually paid $15 for it back in my iPhone days. Since the beginning of Android, nearly every last IM client available has sucked. They drain battery and fail to maintain a connection over a long period of time. Now when the real alternatives with push notifications arrive, no one wants to pay (Trillian is free now, but won’t be when it enters the market). Android users’ reluctance to pay people for their hard work is why the Market will never compare to the App Store. That and the fact that Google still hasn’t released a desktop client yet…

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0 Courtney 09/29/10 7:00 AM

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I wouldn’t pay anything for an IM app. No matter how good it is.

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jim2point0Guest 09/29/10 8:19 AM

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The problem with developers is that they don’t realize how much money they are missing out on by pricing their apps this high. Sure, it might be great and enough work was put into it to justify the cost. However, if nobody buys it, you make no money. There is no cost to “produce” a copy of this app. That is why amazingly high quality apps can sell for $1 and sell 6 million copies (Angry Birds anyone?).

If they priced the app at $2-3, they would make 3x more money in the long run. I don’t understand why they don’t do this….

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- JeffGuest 09/29/10 8:43 AM
  
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  Even if they will make same amount of money, they would have more purchases and ratings and therefore have better position in Market.
  
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ThorpelandGuest 09/29/10 9:00 AM

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People gripe about it costing $10. Developers gripe about people not wanting to pay for good apps. Funny conundrum. The thing is, some apps ARE worth $10+. But for a chat app, it better be freakin life altering. Developers shouldn’t be frustrated with people hesitant to part with $10 for their beloved app. They should be frustrated with other developers for releasing a similar app for free. As long as there is a quality free option in a certain app category, people will gripe about the one they have to pay for.

For me, eBuddy more than handles my IM duties and im happy its free. I wouldn’t pay to chat. There are apps I would and have paid for though. For example, I paid $10 for a remote desktop app. Why? Because it was solid, well made and actually helped me be productive in my everyday work life.

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- xalliesGuest 09/29/10 9:27 AM
  
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  yeah but Beejive keeps you logged in. meaning you loose connectivity you will still get the message pushed to your phone when you have connection again. … i missed this from my sidekick… i love this app
  
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smooney3Guest 09/29/10 10:16 AM

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I don’t have a problem spending that much on an app. I’ve spent that much on PhoneMyPC and a few others already. But for an IM app? Not a chance. Maybe a couple bucks if it was really good and, well, did a lot more than IM. I’d still cringe, though.

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DistortedLoopGuest 09/29/10 11:58 AM

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I’ve got BeeJive on my iPhones – in fact it’s so good an app on that platform that I even tweeted once that it was “home-screen-worthy” (it and Twittelator Pro). In fact it still sits on the homescreen of all 5 of my iPhones. I didn’t remember paying that much for it, but checking my email iTunes Store receipts I see that sure enough, I paid $9.99, and never regretted it.

If I were looking for a multi-service chat client on my Androids, I’d probably grab this one, even at $9.99, but I’d much rather pay $4.99 or less, just in terms of how little I’d actually use something like this. It seems like for me and my circle of friends, it’s text messaging, not instant messaging that’s the preferred contact method.

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DroidboxxGuest 09/30/10 4:29 AM

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imo.im is a very good IM client. Free too. Support for Skype, Gtalk, Facebook.

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- 0 Tes 09/30/10 5:49 AM
  
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  Except it doesn’t support Skype at all.
  
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  - DroidboxxGuest 09/30/10 7:12 AM
    
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    Yes, it does. Not voice. IM.
    
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  - DroidboxxGuest 09/30/10 7:21 AM
    
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    https://imo.im/
    IM support for: MSN, Yahoo, AIM/ICQ, Google Talk, MySpace, Skype, Facebook on both an iPhone and Android app.
    
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RGuest 09/30/10 7:55 AM

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From what I can see its just a standard IM app? Maybe if there was VoiP support it’d be worth getting. Only Nimbuzz offers that right now for Skype right now and the official skype app seems to never be coming to newer androids. :/ If it had Video chat support I’d buy it in a heart beat

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AcuartGuest 09/30/10 10:44 AM

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Yes, it IS worth $10, because all those free IM apps are absolutely terrible. (aside from trillian, which is good too. But it’s still still in beta, so they could charge money for it as well when it’s released.) You get what you pay for. Android users are some cheap people.

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WedgeGuest 10/15/10 6:20 PM

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I bought beejive for the iphone and loved it, i switched to android and was sad it wasn’t there. But not its out i tried it. Garbage. Slower than molasses. I mean if they speed the UI up it would be good but as it is right now slower than shit.

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AlyseGuest 10/24/10 11:37 PM

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I paid $30 for a license that could go from Blackberry to Blackberry two years ago, then I ended up going to a Droid instead of another Blackberry. I figured there would be another app that would run as efficiently and not drain my battery, but eBuddy, AIM, and every other messaging app has let me down. I’m going to shell out the $10 and see it as an investment considering how often I use AIM for everything from editor’s notes on articles to catching up with friends.

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gettingmadGuest 02/11/11 9:27 AM

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I’ve had Beejive since it first came out for blackberry and its been awesome. When I got to android, I used the trial version to test it out. At the end of 30 days, i paid $10 because it is a very good high quality app that maintains my communication in both business and personal.

However, after paying the $10, I am still stuck on the trail version, no automatic update has been done since they informed me payment has been processed, and ever since beejive support and marketing teams have not yet contacted me from numerous emails I have sent asking for how to resolve the issue.

Very soon, Im going to have to make a more drastic decision, but for now, Im giving them some time and then will go to the next step.

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RobertGuest 02/20/11 10:42 PM

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I bought it on iphone and I can’t transfer the license. Another 10????? No flipping way

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