DISQUS

Sorry to sound pessimistic. I actually hope I'm wrong, but the fact is you've got a very tall order on your hands.

This application isn't going to get any less popular. And I really don't think that you'll be able to handle the number of connections you'll need to. I totally saw this coming.

The only solution for an indie outfit like yourselves, in my mind, is to allow users to install the server software on their own servers that they have access to. They could then specify the server to use in the client on the iPhone. I'm sorry, but when you consider the possibility of needing to handle 100,000+ connections (a low estimate), I just don't see it happening with your centralized system.

Hey, I just call 'em like I see 'em.

I suppose it's just my two cents, but you would probably do well to enlist the help of someone who will notice misspellings and bad wording.

As an example, the text after submitting an application at http://twenty08.wufoo.com/confirm/mobilechat-be... needs two corrections: "shear" should be "sheer", and "insure" should be "ensure".

This looks great!

To clarify on my previous comment:

I have no reason to doubt the abilities of the MobileChat team, but when a single service is being used by an extremely large number of people, it can be very difficult to ensure availability of the service, regardless of the money available. Just look at Twitter for an example. They seem to have no shortage of venture capital, but they still have problems. Many people like to blame it on Rails or the host or whatever, but really that stuff is just plain hard to avoid when you are dealing with that kind of traffic.

I'm definitely rooting for MobileChat, though. A good IM client with push notifications is really a killer app.

I'm curious to see how this all plays out. If MC works really well, it is going to be *enormously* popular. However, since you basically have to act as gatekeeper for every single user (to be able to provide push notifications), I can't imagine the amount of scaling that will be necessary. I hope it doesn't end up being a problem -- hopefully you have plenty of beefy servers lined up with server-side software ready to scale.

Sheesh, people. Charging three dollars and then maybe even (gasp!) five dollars eventually? Highway robbery!

That's less money than a crappy lunch at a fast food joint. And these people have to run their own backend servers to provide push notifications. If the application provides a good user experience, and it works as advertised, a few dollars is a small price to pay for something like this. Get a grip.

aschall_gmail_com

as others have said, mythtv, or an os x mythfrontend as a plugin. hardware accelerated or not, if it could do hd playback over the network, that would be awesome.

Perhaps one could also set up a server at home using asterisk or something similar that would redirect calls using a cheap, but not free, voip line. This way you could use an inexpensive voip line at home to get unlimited cell phone minutes...

Nice shot!