Users can create groups, either public or private, with multiple topics in each group, all free of charge. Private groups require would-be members to get moderators' permission to join. Users can pick public and private group participants from your Facebook or Twitter friends, or they can invite members via e-mail.
Because it has options to connect one's profile with one's social networks, its onboarding process is fraught with opportunities to start chatting right away with people who already happen to be one's friends.
The instant messaging is quick and incredibly simple to set up. It features a clean interface, and it's usable in a way that very few new web apps are.
We also like the Mentions feature, which allows users to see who has sent them a message or replied to their message from within a group chat -- an especially good feature for when chats get fast-paced or "noisy" or for when a person goes offline.
And while the uses for individuals and friends are undoubtedly there, what really excites us is what the app means for users in businesses, from tech startups to distributed SMBs to the enterprise.
All in all, it's a prettier, more social media-friendly version of the group chat apps we already know -- apps that, in spite of their popularity within the digitally addicted tech set, haven't really rocketed to mass adoption just yet. In other words, even though there's a lot of competition in this space, there's still plenty of room to improve on current offerings and create a viable business.
Convore comes from the minds of developers Leah Culver and Eric Florenzano, as well as designer Eric Maguire. The latter two were recently working at online gaming powerhouse Mochi Media. Meanwhile, Culver and Florenzano met while coordinating some Django meetups in San Francisco, and the collaboration took off from there. The team has been working on Convore full time for approximately the past two weeks, out of an office in SOMA.
The first question that comes to mind, of course, is how does Convore plan to make money with a free web app, especially when their competitors are charging money?
In a conversation today, Culver told us that the plan is to get users first, then find out what features people will be willing to pay for once the company collects more user feedback. While the team was in our office, we mentioned that uploading files would be a nice option, as would being able to download chats as a text file and being able to play YouTube videos from within the app. The team told us some of these ideas might make for good paid features in the future.
Culver said mobile apps will also be a focus and hinted that the ability to embed code snippets might be coming soon, too.