It’s still practically a newborn but Indian mobile messaging app Hike is already channelling almost a billion messages a month between its 5m registered users. Those numbers sound insignificant when you stack them up against the big beasts of the messaging space – WhatsApp claims 200m+ monthly active users, and 600bn messages – but Hike’s growth is impressive when you consider it’s 4… → Read More
Investor Chamath Palihapitiya’s skeptical comments about the current wave of tech startups (comments that included a not-too-veiled dig at Snapchat), ended up fueling plenty of discussion at our Disrupt NY conference earlier this week. In fact, when I interviewed Sequoia Capital partner Aaref Hilaly backstage, Palihapitiya’s remarks provided a springboard for Hilaly’s take on messaging apps… → Read More
Nokia has announced another handset in its S40-based Asha portfolio of low end mobiles which compete with the budget end of Android and cheap BlackBerrys. The 2G-plus-Wi-Fi Asha 210, due to ship before the end of Q2 costing $72 (before taxes), has a dedicated hardware key on the front that short-cuts to messaging app Whatsapp. A second variant, intended for separate markets, has a Facebook key. → Read More
Saudi Arabia is looking at a potential block of services including WhatsApp, Skype and Viber that allow VOiP, messaging and real-time chat according to the country’s official press agency (via CNET). The potential service blockage is a response to these apps not adhering to regulatory requirements put in place by the Saudi Arabian government, and seems to mirror the trouble BlackBerry had with its… → Read More
WhatsApp, the popular mobile messaging app that eschews advertising in favor of a paid model, is getting ready to bring its iOS app in line with the apps it makes for other platforms by turning it into an annual subscription service. Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s CEO, says that the company is planning this year to shift its iOS app to one where new users would pay annually to keep using, taking it away… → Read More
When BlackBerry 10 launched, it did so with a dearth of big-name applications available in its BlackBerry World content portal. Even now some companies (I’m looking at you Netflix) continue to shy away from the platform, but at least one company has changed its tune on the BlackBerry 10. After a representative noted late last year that the team had “no plans to support” BlackBerry’s new OS… → Read More
It would be easy to assume that Facebook or Apple’s iMessage are in a natural position to reach global dominance in smartphone messaging. But the reality is that the landscape looks very different and is very fragmented — at least for now.
There are plenty of apps, WhatsApp included, that have tens of millions of users or dominant marketshare in their home countries of Korea, Japan or China. → Read More
Based on downloads, Facebook’s iPhone app was no longer the most popular mobile social networking app in many Asian countries and elsewhere from July 2011 to June 2012. This, according to the latest report from app store analytics firm Distimo, which took a look at trends surrounding mobile social networking applications over the past two years. Distimo found that apps like LINE, WeChat and Viber… → Read More
Messaging apps that let you use your smartphone to text or chat with your friends or even large groups of people, often free of charge, are red hot. We’ve heard from a reliable source that one of the companies making waves in the space, WhatsApp, has just secured $8 million in financing from Sequoia Capital, and possibly other investors.
WhatsApp enables users of iPhone, Android, Blackberry and… → Read More
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