SMS On Steroids – eBuddy Debuts Realtime, Cross-Platform Messaging App

eBuddy, the Dutch company that enables millions of people worldwide to communicate with each other on the Web and a wide range of mobile phones, is today introducing a brand new application for iPhone and Android. With the app, dubbed eBuddy XMS, the company aims to go “beyond SMS” with a free realtime messaging tool that functions across a range of platforms (BlackBerry coming soon).

eBuddy believes it can add value to the fast growing mobile messaging apps category based on its wealth of digital messaging expertise and by focusing primarily on the user experience.

Already, the company enables over 30 million monthly active users to send and receive more than 17 billion messages, which they say is an advantage to service providers that are not used to such scale in terms of being able to deliver consistent reliability and speed.

I wish I could say you can try it out right now, but the app launch isn’t worldwide but limited to users in The Netherlands and Australia, at least for the time being. The company promises to add more features to the service and roll out internationally in the coming weeks.

I gave the beta product a whirl, though, and I believe it definitely has some potential.

After installation, the eBuddy XMS application will let you add friends via Facebook or by invitations sent via SMS and email. The app offers personalization options for messages, including more than 100 funky emoticons.

With tools like eBuddy XMS (and alternatives such as Kik, WhatsApp, Pingchat or even the likes of ChompSMS, TextPlus, Grouped{in}, Beluga, GroupMe and admittedly loads of other messaging applications), who really needs SMS anymore?