Facebook Chat App Social.IM Snagged By iSkoot

in social networking, Web 2.0, web, facebook, Web2.0 Startups, News

Social.IM, a standalone Facebook chat application that bypasses certain restrictions of Facebook, has been acquired by iSkoot, a company that was so far into providing carrier-friendly mobile VoIP solutions. With this move, they plan to move into mobile Web applications arena, and Social.IM is definitely not a bad start, although it has lost some of its luster since Facebook launched its own in-browser chat.

iSkoot’s CEO Mark Jacobstein goes marketingese on the deal: ”Social.IM has served as an instant Web communications desktop platform and we see a clear consumer integration with iSkoot’s upcoming suite of Web to mobile push services. Acquiring Social.IM is a key step in our path to introduce later this year a groundbreaking new communications platform that will revolutionize the mobile landscape.”

The story is interesting because Social.IM seemed to be in a bad situation: it focused on one platform only, providing Facebook users a way to chat, and then Facebook launched its own chat (which has several flaws, one of which is the fact that it’s so damn unreliable), which usually means you can close shop and wave goodbye. However, iSkoot seems to have recognized Social.IM’s potential and will integrate it into its own set of services. Although the terms of the deal aren’t disclosed, it doesn’t sound like too bad of a deal for Social.IM.

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