I almost posted this in the Android thread, but thought I'd make a new one given that one of the selling points of these apps is the fact that they are cross-platform.
Similar to how location based apps were all the rage last year (with Foursquare becoming the clear winner over the likes of GoWalla), this year group messaging apps are what's en vogue.
These apps sit somewhere in between SMS and IM. The appearance and functionality appears more like SMS, but with easier group conversations and media sharing. However, they utilize mobile data/wifi rather than the cell networks and are therefore free to send and receive messages.
So far the main competitors in this space appear to be:
KIK
Beluga (recently acquired by Facebook)
WhatsApp
PingChat
GroupMe
There's also the ever-popular BBM which loses points for being BlackBerry only (at least for now) and therefore having limited use, and Google recently introduced an app called DISCO, which bizarrely is iPhone only right now. My understanding is that the app was complete before Google acquired the company that made it, and logic dictates it will most likely be integrated within Android in the future, if not a standalone app.
I gotta throw GroupMe out of the equation right now too because it's US-only at this stage. Which is a shame.
So is anyone using any of the apps I listed? I have KIK, Beluga, WhatsApp and PingChat all installed.
KIK appeared to scan my contacts for email addresses which it then used to match me to it's users. Beluga scanned my Facebook contacts to find other users I know, and WhatsApp works by scanning the phone numbers in your address book to populate your contacts - which as one person pointed out, only affords you the option of contact people who you're already able to contact easily via SMS.
PingChat was the most full featured in this regard, allowing you to scan your Address Book, Facebook, and Twitter to find contacts. Sadly enough all this illustrated was that group messaging for now is still a niche concept (much like when I first joined Twitter in 2007, it took until 2009 for the general public to catch on) because despite scanning a few thousand people from my FB, Twitter and Address Book combined, it only managed to find 25 other PingChat users - 22 of which I have zero interest in talking to.
So, any of you guys use or have checked out any of these apps? I think there's a lot of potential here, but as per usual with tech stuff, it'll take 12-18 months to gain any real traction outside of gadget-heads.
I also wonder if there'll be a clear winner out of all of them. It seems WhatsApp has the most traction right now. If BBM goes cross-platform, that might be a contender, Facebook acquiring Beluga is a BIG deal, and the smart people know to never count-out what Google are doing...if they integrate DISCO natively then it's game over for everyone else purely based on Android market share alone...
Similar to how location based apps were all the rage last year (with Foursquare becoming the clear winner over the likes of GoWalla), this year group messaging apps are what's en vogue.
These apps sit somewhere in between SMS and IM. The appearance and functionality appears more like SMS, but with easier group conversations and media sharing. However, they utilize mobile data/wifi rather than the cell networks and are therefore free to send and receive messages.
So far the main competitors in this space appear to be:
KIK
Beluga (recently acquired by Facebook)
PingChat
GroupMe
There's also the ever-popular BBM which loses points for being BlackBerry only (at least for now) and therefore having limited use, and Google recently introduced an app called DISCO, which bizarrely is iPhone only right now. My understanding is that the app was complete before Google acquired the company that made it, and logic dictates it will most likely be integrated within Android in the future, if not a standalone app.
I gotta throw GroupMe out of the equation right now too because it's US-only at this stage. Which is a shame.
So is anyone using any of the apps I listed? I have KIK, Beluga, WhatsApp and PingChat all installed.
KIK appeared to scan my contacts for email addresses which it then used to match me to it's users. Beluga scanned my Facebook contacts to find other users I know, and WhatsApp works by scanning the phone numbers in your address book to populate your contacts - which as one person pointed out, only affords you the option of contact people who you're already able to contact easily via SMS.
PingChat was the most full featured in this regard, allowing you to scan your Address Book, Facebook, and Twitter to find contacts. Sadly enough all this illustrated was that group messaging for now is still a niche concept (much like when I first joined Twitter in 2007, it took until 2009 for the general public to catch on) because despite scanning a few thousand people from my FB, Twitter and Address Book combined, it only managed to find 25 other PingChat users - 22 of which I have zero interest in talking to.
So, any of you guys use or have checked out any of these apps? I think there's a lot of potential here, but as per usual with tech stuff, it'll take 12-18 months to gain any real traction outside of gadget-heads.
I also wonder if there'll be a clear winner out of all of them. It seems WhatsApp has the most traction right now. If BBM goes cross-platform, that might be a contender, Facebook acquiring Beluga is a BIG deal, and the smart people know to never count-out what Google are doing...if they integrate DISCO natively then it's game over for everyone else purely based on Android market share alone...
