Smartphone-based messaging is hot these days, there?s no denying it. First it was BlackBerry, which rolled out its widely popular messenger service, known as BBM, to Android and iPhone users. Now, high on the Canadian device maker?s agenda is to bring its messaging service from mobile devices onto desktop computers. Such a move would allow employees of big companies and government agencies to go mobile on group chats started on their PCs, without skipping a beat. A brief recap: BBM, with over 80 million users, was a pioneering mobile-messaging service, but user growth failed to keep pace with that of WhatsApp and other competitors, in part because BlackBerry had long refused to open BBM to other platforms.
Then came the buyout of the hot messaging service WhatsApp by Facebook in February this year?a move which stunned many Silicon Valley observers with its lofty price tag of $19 billion. With more than 450 million users around the world, WhatsApp fits into the world?s largest social network firm?s scheme of things as it looks for ways to boost its popularity, especially among a younger crowd.
It is now the turn of the South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung to display its determination to win the market for messaging, an indispensable utility in a mobile era. In its latest push to attract more consumers to its handsets in India, the world?s biggest smartphone maker has rebooted its mobile instant messaging (IM) tool with new features including upto 1 GB file sharing, instant message translation between English and Hindi, up to 1,001 members? group chat, easy location sharing, sent message recall, Indianised anicons and SMS/MMS integration.
Like BBM, the Samsung service, called ChatON, has also gone multi-platform; it means that the service will help connect users across platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry, Samsung feature phones and Web, enabling people around the globe to communicate without the barrier of a specific device or operating system. Currently ChatON has 200 million subscribers in more than 200 countries.
Combining text messaging and social networking, messaging apps provide a quick way for smartphone users to trade everything from brief texts to pictures to YouTube clips?bypassing the need to pay service providers for messaging services. Samsung had launched its mobile instant messaging tool in August 2011, but it has not been able to grab much of a foothold in the messaging market. Recent updates may spark some interest in the service.
Tarun Malik, director of Media Solutions Centre-South West Asia, Samsung Electronics, said, ?With ChatON Version 3.5, we have simplified mobile instant messaging while adding innovative features. The app has been updated keeping in mind the needs of the young and socially connected users. One of the most exciting new features is message translation, which makes it possible for people speaking different languages to chat with ease. Also the ability to use this platform to consume content from various genres like news, entertainment, games, health and others through multiple devices and platforms allows greater flexibility to users.?
In the past few years, Samsung has moved aggressively into the Indian smartphone market to secure the loyalty of consumers and keep them within the orbit of its devices, software and content. ?India has a huge consumer base and is one of the top strategic markets for Samsung,? says Vineet Taneja, country head, IT & Mobile Division at Samsung India. According to him, access, devices and content/services are the three key factors needed to develop a robust mobile data ecosystem in the country. Samsung leads the Indian smartphone market with a 37% market share in calendar year 2013, according to CyberMedia Research. During the January-December 2013 period, 41.1 million smartphones were shipped in the country.
Back to the company?s chat app. Glympse is a nifty new feature that will enable the users to share their real-time movements on a map with friends, for a set period of time. ChatON is claimed to be the first messaging app in the country to feature English-to-Hindi and Hindi-to-English instant translation feature. Version 3.5 has also introduced a local language translation feature for incoming messages, which supports 14 Indian languages.
Another very useful feature that has been added keeping in mind user needs is the sent message recall feature, which allows users to recall messages they may have sent accidentally. The new version supports large file sharing up to 1 GB, allowing users to easily share multimedia contents with their contacts. ChatON also overcomes limitations of group sizes and allows up to 1,001 persons in a group. This means that users can now have more friends and contacts in a single group and communicate with them seamlessly.
The improved message integration feature allows users to manage their ChatON and SMS/MMS messages from the same sender in one chat room. This opt-in feature allows users to access both types of messages at the same time for a more seamless message experience even in an unstable network environment.
A big differentiator for the Samsung?s chat app is its Live Partners feature, which comprises key partners including CriqHQ, Ebay, among others to engage the consumer and provide content, discounts and deals. It is a one-stop-shop where users can subscribe to diverse content from multiple service providers. The assorted partner alliances include genres such as news, sports, food, education, astrology and entertainment.
Latif Nathani, managing director, eBay India, said, ?Nearly 24% of eBay India traffic is via a mobile device. We are always looking at innovative ways to reach our core target groups and messaging apps like Samsung ChatON bring us another avenue to reach new consumers, especially in Tier II/III towns. We have great offers on eBay India exclusively for the ChatON channel.?
Put simply, Samsung wants to make your chat life more than just a chat. Chat across platforms, chat across the world, and chat creatively.