The purchase seems like a smart move for RIM. Tungle offers an attractive set of features for RIM’s core customer base of enterprise users, and should enable the company to bolster the calendaring tools it offers under the BlackBerry brand. Tungle provides a very easy-to-use online meeting scheduling app that lets users propose multiple meeting times to one or many people, inside or outside their organization and across time zones. It also allows for users to broadcast their meeting availability on a publicly accessible page; others can then schedule meetings. The app integrates with a variety of calendar, email and scheduling applications, including Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal, Entourage for Mac, Lotus Notes, BlackBerry Yahoo, Windows Live, Facebook, TripIt and Plancast. There are Tungle mobile apps available for iPhone and BlackBerry.

Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but the Tungle acquisition is the latest in a string of productivity and UI-related purchases RIM has made recently. It bought social contacts service Gist back in February, and prior to that, had acquired connected navigation company Dash, WebKit browser experts Torch Mobile and UI shop The Astonishing Tribe. These purchases should enable RIM to augment and improve the kind of applications — email and calendar tools — that appeal to the BlackBerry’s core set of business users. Perhaps a renewed focus on productivity and UI will be enough to stave off the threat of Apple and Android, which have already gained a significant foothold in an enterprise market that was once dominated by RIM.

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Tungle.me users can now automatically embed WebEx information into meeting invitations when organizing a conference call. The location field in the email confirmation and calendar event will both have a direct link to the WebEx meeting. That should mean that participants won’t have to hunt down a dial-in number hidden in away in an email somewhere, and they’ll also have direct access to any required meeting or presentation documents.

Setting up your Tungle.me account to work with WebEx is straightforward:

1. Sign into Tungle.me
2. Click “Partner Add-Ons” in the left sidebar
3. Enter your WebEx credentials

As WebEx is the only item under the “Partner Add-Ons” menu currently, I’d hope that would mean that Tungle is also looking at integrating other apps with its service. Tungle.me already plays nicely with a large variety of calendaring apps, but being able to integrate it with a wide variety of web conferencing and online presentation providers would be very useful.

What meeting scheduling tools do you use?

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These integrations should prove handy for people like myself who tend to have event planning data spread across a few different services, as Tungle will automatically aggregate data from all of them. Users can simply update travel plans on TripIt, RSVP to Facebook Events or broadcast plans on Plancast, which then pushes out updates automatically to their Tungle.me accounts.

The new integrations add to Tungle’s existing compatibility with Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal, Entourage for Mac, Lotus Notes, Windows Live and Yahoo Calendars.

Let us know what you think of this update in the comments.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Report: The Real-Time Enterprise

First, let me say that the experience I’m about to describe will not stop me from using the apps I mention. However, I found some weak spots that put me in a jam, and thought I’d share to help you avoid the same situation.

Where TimeDriver Falls Short

I’ve been singing the praises of TimeDriver, the personal appointment scheduler, because I love the way it lets me break my calendar into smaller chunks — or “Books” — and share them with groups of people who I want to see specific open time blocks on my schedule. I have a Book for my phone demos for WebWorkerDaily, one for my women in business podcast, another for my Second Life podcast, and then I set up one specifically for in-person interviews at SXSW.

What I learned the day I arrived here is that TimeDriver doesn’t translate to a third time zone, meaning that I saw the calendar as Alaska Time (where I live and work), every interviewee saw the scheduler in their time zone, and then we both arrived in Austin, which is in Central Time, we both got the meeting times wrong. The way I found out about this snafu? Missing a long overdue meeting with C.C. Chapman, a colleague and friend. Because of the time zone issue, our meeting actually coincided with my flight into Austin. There was very little I could do to rectify the situation from the air.

When I finally did get TimeDriver tech support on the phone (note: they are excellent and patient), the only solution they could offer was a workaround. Basically I should have switched my computer to Central Time before setting up the schedule Book, then reverted back to my time zone. Then the Book would be in the wrong time slots for Alaska and for the interviewee, but the correct ones for Texas. But then I would have to inform the interviewees (of which there are over a dozen) that they have to note the timezone discrepancy and make adjustments accordingly. Yikes.

Until TimeDriver adds the capability of an alternate “common” time zone for when meeting parties are traveling to meet in a time zone other than their own, you’re going to get very messed up using its scheduling Books.

The Quick Workaround With Meetwith.me

In a panic, I spent my night going through TimeBridge‘s new scheduling solution Meetwith.me (which I recently reviewed) to see if it could be an alternative solution to my appointment dilemma. Unlike TimeDriver’s Books, TimeBridge doesn’t let you designate different time chunks from your calendar for different audiences. However, I figured out that I could sign up again to claim a second Meetwith.me page using a different email address, and then narrow my time availability to just certain blocks of time during my stay at SXSW.

I was able to then send out invites, get responses back and manage the first wave of responses to nail down times. But later, I realized that after the first wave of responses, more had arrived and since I was using a secondary email address, I didn’t see them and missed a number of interview opportunities. Luckily, some persistent PR folks tracked down my primary email and were able to make contact with me through other channels.

In the course of stressing over my scheduling apps dilemma, I ran into Mark Gingras, the CEO of Tungle, another scheduling app. I told him what I was going through and then scolded him. Why? Because when I tried signing up for Tungle.me to see if it might be a good interim solution, I could not access my newly-opened account. We discussed the third time zone issue, and Gingras admitted that Tungle.me did not have a specific solution for it, but he said it was a much-requested feature and hinted at integrating in the future.

It just goes to show that SXSW can test applications to near-breaking, but also provide unprecedented access to heads of application firms who can troubleshoot for you in-person and on the fly!

How do you manage scheduling in multiple time zones with two or more people and with calendar integration?

For the GigaOM network’s complete SXSW coverage, check out this round-up.

Have some items on your list you just don’t want to tackle? The Execupundit shares his idea for Unpleasant Task Day. I say it’s brilliant.

Getting Things Done away from your computer? My time tracker of choice, freckle, has made available a Hipster Time Tracker which brings their dead simple interface to paper.

Tsheets adds the ability to update your time sheets via Twitter. For many of us the Twitter app is ubiquitous so it’s no surprise that more and more applications are opting for this type of integration.

Our own Jim Courtney recently reviewed Tungle, another tool to ease the pain of  scheduling meetings. I’ve yet to find one that really works like I want, so I’m giving tTungle a shot now.

The Apple Blog offer their take on the new version of the Daylite Productivity Suite.

What interesting finds do you have in your cache? Share them in the comments.

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In today’s world of home-based businesses, geographically dispersed business operations, outsourced services and worldwide marketing activities, scheduling meetings can become a bit of a nightmare. It’s also a world of many calendar programs (Outlook, MS Exchange, Google Calendar, LotusLive (Notes), iCal and Entourage) and diverse platforms (Windows, Mac, smartphones). Scheduling a meeting by email exchange can be a tedious and lengthy process at the best of times. Launching today, Tungle aims to make meeting scheduling a much simpler process for all parties.

Initially released two years ago as an Outlook plug-in, the Tungle team used the alpha and beta versions of the platform as a market research tool, as much as a test of the platform itself. Key findings included:

• it takes too many emails/phone calls to coordinate one meeting
• participants are dispersed around the globe and across different time zones
• 60% of meetings are with participants from outside the meeting coordinator’s company
• 75% of meetings are one-to-one
• 95% of meetings have four or fewer participants

At the same time they uncovered user interface issues that are addressed in this launch release:

• users want to be able to use their favorite calendar, productivity or social networking tool, not just Outlook
• invitees should not be required to register with the service in order to respond to a meeting request
• invitees require context-related help to guide them through the scheduling process
• users wanted privacy options for calendar sharing: full details, busy/away status or no sharing

No longer a plug-in, Tungle is now a hosted web service and works with all the common web browsers (including Google Chrome); no download is required. On your initial sign up you are asked to sync your calendar and contacts from whatever program you use (Tungle works with Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal and Entourage for Mac) . You are also asked whether you want to share your calendar, with per-contact privacy controls.

You can then enter the Tungle interface and start the process of scheduling a meeting. Once a meeting is scheduled it is automatically entered into each participant’s calendar.

Tungle has added some features in this release to make for a better user experience, including:

• “Expert” and “Wizard”  modes for meeting scheduling
• context-sensitive “bubbles” that provide additional guidance to new users responding to a meeting invitation
• time-zone adjustment for each participant’s geographical location
• use of Google Maps to find meeting locations (for example, a convenient Starbucks) from within the “Location” field
• BlackBerry, iPhone and other smartphone compatibility
• a “Meet With Me” mode, where clicking on a button embedded in a web site or email link immediately takes the visitor into Tungle to schedule a meeting

One of the most interesting things Tungle learned through the beta testing period was that the tool actually makes meetings happen earlier, especially when three or more participants are involved. Using Tungle, the decision on a meeting time is accelerated, because a meeting that may have taken two or three days to schedule with multiple email exchanges can now be set up within a few hours.

I have used the beta version of Tungle to schedule meetings successfully several times over the past few months. Occasionally there have been user interface issues where participants did not understand how to act on the invitation email, but these concerns have all been addressed in this launch release.

Going forward, Tungle plans to incorporate the service into social networking platforms as well as collaboration and conferencing tools such as Webex and GoToMeeting.

Tungle is a free service with plans to offer a “premium” service later this year.

What meeting scheduling tools do you use and why?

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The BlackBerry optimized website is joined by an Outlook plug-in in an effort by Tungle to make usage as easy as possible.  Users can now schedule meetings with Tungle either through Tungle’s website in a conventional browser, use the Outlook plug-in, or using the BlackBerry site.

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Scheduling meetings is a necessary chore we face in business.  Managing multiple person’s calendars and finding a good time to meet involves many back and forth emails.  This is especially true when the persons you’re trying to meet with are on another electronic calendaring system.

To tackle this problem, I looked at Tungle last week. Now let’s look at a similar scheduling application: TimeBridge.

TimeBridge’s approach for addressing this frustrating issue comes from research involving personal assistants.  In my phone interview with TimeBridge CEO Yori Nelken, Mr. Nelken said the company spent hours interviewing personal assistants to find the insider’s tips and tricks for streamlining the scheduling process.  The TimeBridge application is not just a calendar view with all attendees’ free/busy data overlaid on each other.  They have built a meeting organization system with some handy add-ons to make it a powerful scheduling platform.

Currently TimeBridge supports two major calendaring platforms: Microsoft Exchange/Outlook and Google Calendar, including Google Apps for Your Domains.  The TimeBridge application works best when your contacts with whom you wish to meet ‘connect’ their calendars to TimeBridge.

This is done on the Microsoft side by downloading/installing an Outlook toolbar. With Google, you enter your Google sign-on credentials or you go through a process to give TimeBridge access to your Google Calendar.  Most privacy-conscious people will prefer the latter method.

The TimeBridge Process

Connecting your calendar isn’t necessary to arrange a meeting with TimeBridge, it just makes the process easier. For this post, I’ll run through the process assuming no participants have ‘connected’ their calendar to TimeBridge.

To begin scheduling a meeting, log in to TimeBridge and click “Schedule a Meeting”.  Next, enter in the participant’s email addresses, your meeting topic and proposed meeting time(s).  You can also add an optional conference call number at no charge.  Click “Send” and the email invitations are sent out to attendees.  You are also presented with an option to schedule a web conference with WebEx.

The recipients get a message with an invitation to pick which of your proposed meeting times works best for them.  They mark each time slot with their preferences based on their schedule.

After the attendee marks their preferences, a message is sent back to the meeting organizer where he/she finalizes the meeting time, based on everyone’s provided availability.

Finally, all attendees receive an email that contains a meeting notice that can be placed on their respective calendars.

Upon finalization of the meeting, the originator is presented with a link to schedule a reservation (if needed) with OpenTable – an online restaurant reservation service.

About TimeBridge

Mr. Nelken said the company received funding in December of 2005 and began operation in January 2006.  Their team of 24 has seen their usage double over and over about 4 times. They are targeting growth amongst users, rather than engaging CIO-types and IT shops.  TimeBridge has forged a relationship with Google and are providing Google a foot-in-the-door with enterprise customers who are looking at Google Calendar as a possibility for their organizations.

To monetize the product, they have a very innovative approach.  The optional conference call service is a revenue sharing agreement they have set up with the calling service providers.  This gives the company the opportunity to provide customers with a no-advertisement (and potentially annoying) call service and on the back-end, TimeBridge makes money too.  Additionally, the optional web conference option when arranging a meeting is an agreementw with WebEx whereby TimeBridge gets a fee for the new-users sign up.

Following the typical web 2.0 web service model, Nelken stated at some point they will have a premium package, but basic functionality will always remain free.

Conclusion

Tungle required a download and install of an IM-ish application that showed you your contact’s availabililty.  I like that TimeBridge is an Outlook add-in bar, keeping me within Outlook during the scheduling process.

Another interesting feature with TimeBridge is the ability to show your free/busy data on your website and/or social network.  You can register with TimeBridge and get either a widget or embed-able HTML code that you can use on any website.  This might be advantageous for a busy person to show their free/busy data directly on their website for all those who want to schedule a meeting with them.

TimeBridge creates a process for meeting scheduling that is easy and conducive to how meetings are set up in the “real world”.  The optional services makes scheduling meeting resources painless.  Their integration with Google Calendar is a plus, however I’m waiting for them, like Tungle, to support iCal on the Macintosh.  Nelken assured me an iCal application would be released in the near future.

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In conclusion, time is wasted arranging meetings because they involve multiple email transactions and/or phone calls.

A newcomer to the meeting coordinating scene, Tungle is an add-on application that tries to take some of the frustration out of arranging meetings.

The Tungle Client

Tungle is a downloadable application that looks very much like an IM program. The application reads your calendar and shares your availability with your Tungle peers. One benefit of Tungle is that it doesn’t change or alter your Exchange calendar, just reads it for the purpose of allowing you to share your free/busy data. Tungle also allows you to see your contact’s free/busy data within Outlook, sans having to fire up the Tungle client.

At this point in time, Tungle only supports Microsoft Outlook (with or without an exchange server) on Windows Vista and XP.

Interoperability

If you want to schedule a meeting with someone who you know doesn’t have Outlook or Exchange, you can create a Tungle Space. A Tungle Space is simply a temporary web site to arrange a particular meeting. In the Spaces tab, you’ll see a grid representing the coming days. You click a zone that represents times that you’re free. An email is sent to those who you invite and they get a link to your Tungle space where they’re able to see your open times. The invitees select a block of time and the meeting is then booked.

When I asked Tungle CEO Marc Gringas about future plans to support other calendaring platforms such as Apple’s iCal and Google Calendar, he replied by stating these are the next two platforms are the next to be launched, with the same functionality as the Windows client.

Monetization

When asked about how they are going to monetize Tungle, Gringas said the basic client will always remain free. However they will eventually introduced premium services that will be billed monthly or yearly. Premium features will likely include detailed calendar information (rather than just free/busy data) and the ability to schedule meeting resources such as projectors, food, microphones, etc.

Conclusion

Tungle is an easy to use application that takes some of the trouble of scheduling meetings. However, until other calendaring applications are supported, I cannot see recommending this product for your scheduling needs. Those on Outlook 2007 already have the ability to share their free/busy data with those not on their Exchange system via the Internet Free/Busy functionality. There’s no reason to install and configure a third-party application when Outlook 2007 supports this out of the box.

Tungle’s true value will be realized when it serves as a cross-platform calendar scheduling system; bridging the gap between not only Outlook users across enterprises, but across operating systems and other calendaring platforms.

Tungle advertises that no data is kept on any central servers. Gringas, in our interview, told me Tungle works in a P2P fashion, similar to Skype. When I addressed the issue of privacy, I asked him if scheduling data is sent over the wire in clear-text. He responded by saying the beta build I was using did use clear-text but upon release, they’ll be employing encryption (off the top of his head, he thought it was Blowfish). I feel a bit uneasy about any type of clear-text communication of my data, so it I hope this encryption promise manifests.

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