GETTING THE MESSAGE
Messaging apps vie to become the next operating systems.
After six years in business, the Kik messaging service claims to have more than 240 million active users — and to have cornered 40 per cent of the much-coveted U.S. teen market — easily putting it in the top tier of the hotly contested messaging field.
Its profile was given a huge boost this summer when Asia-based messaging giant Tencent announced it was investing $50 million in the company, based in Waterloo, Ont., giving Kik a valuation of $1 billion.
Although to most people, messaging seems as simple as texting a friend, Kik — and competitors such as Facebook’s Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber and the Asian service WeChat — are at the forefront of the next stage of messaging, where they become platforms for other types of services, including payment, entertainment and more.
These messaging apps want to become the next operating systems.
“Our vision and our mission is to do in the West what WeChat has done in China — to connect the world through chat,” said Ted Livingston, Kik’s CEO.
“People get messaging and they see that it’s the killer app on mobile, and that’s where people are spending all their time,” Livingston said.
“More and more it is the centre of mobile, so if you don’t own a messaging app, you don’t really get to play in this next phase of the game.”
Facebook is also heading down this path.
“Messaging is really, truly the next frontier,” David Marcus, Facebook’s head of messaging products, said at this week’s Code/Mobile conference. “The Asian paradigm has shown there’s a there.”
As an example, Livingston points to how WeChat has become the tool for doing almost anything in China. People can walk into a restaurant, scan the WeChat number, get the menu and order through the app.
“They are creating an operating system for society — it’s not just people, but places and things,” Livingston said.
To that end, Kik recently integrated GIFs, through their acquisition of a company called GIF Relay and, launched Jam, a music-based discussion tool, with plans to build more functionality into the product in the future.
The company also recently announced Kik Codes, which uses QR code technology, in an attempt to make it easier for people to sign and potentially connect with brands. The service has found success creating conversations with companies using chatbots and branded messaging, through fun campaigns that users share with each other.
Besides adding functionality, Kik is focused on acquiring more users in what’s a crowded field.
Other communications tools are also competing, in their own way: Twitter lifted character limits from Direct Messages and Snapchat is building out features, such as its Discover function, which pulls in news and photos.
Here is how some notable messaging apps are building up for the future: Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp It’s clear that Facebook sees its audience — 700 million for Facebook and 900 million for WhatsApp — potentially migrating to messaging, which explains why it has two messaging products. To monetize that audience, Facebook Messenger launched an online payment service in the U.S. by which users can send others money through the service. It’s not available for all users, but Facebook has said the company will launch 40 more apps to build out the service. Viber Purchased by Japanese company Rakuten (owners of Kobo) for $900 million in February 2014, this messaging app with 600 million users has decided to put its focus on gaming. Viber Games launched in February 2015 and features four free-toplay games, in which users can challenge each other. The company hopes to use them to help sell in-app stickers and other add-ons. WeChat The company recently announced iOS support, and has become ubiquitous in China. Beyond messaging, there are reportedly 10 million thirdparty apps — services acting almost like a browser — available within WeChat. Companies and organizations build public apps called “official accounts” and through them, people can hail a cab, manage credits cards, check the news and much more. Yahoo Livetext Launched globally in late August, Livetext is a live streaming app that features video and messaging but no audio. The focus is on seeing someone’s reaction when they get a message, and it gives the ability to communicate in places where someone might not be able to speak.
“We really think there is a new kind of opportunity and a new kind of behaviour,” said Adam Cahan, a senior vice-president with Yahoo. “There are so many places where we would like the emotional connection and seeing a person’s reaction, but we can’t do it when we have that audio.”
Removing audio seems like a gimmick, but Livetext is on trend, and aimed at the younger users that use Snapchat. One Messenger This new app from an Australian startup has focused its launch on Canada because Canadians are more likely to try new apps. That makes it a good test market and a good place to make any tweaks.
“We set out to finally create a complete messaging app, to combine all the things that people love to do all into one app, and it’s easy to use,” said Mark Lee, One Messenger CEO.
It doesn’t do live streaming but it handles multimedia well and has a social media feature called “Memories,” which sound a bit like a private Facebook wall.