I’m not sure exactly how long Kik has been out there, I think its fairly recent. Their cross platform messenger has exploded past 1 million users, proving that there is a strong demand for the ability for device manufacturers to provide instant real time messaging clients. We are not in the early millennium anymore, SMS seems to be running on its last breath. With kik, you get real time IM services allowing you to see messages instantly. It resembles the great BBM in several ways. Besides being able to view immediate messages, you can also see when the other person is typing a message, just like on BlackBerry Messenger. Now you can have the ability to bring you conversation to life with users who use other smartphones other than a BlackBerry such as Android and Apple devices. Kik identifies each individual message as either “sent,” (S) “delivered” (D) or “read,” (R) notifying you in real time when the user receives and reads it on their device. As of now, the only other service that does this is BBM.
Wonder why this client resembles BBM so much? Well, the Chief Executive for KIk is Mr. Ted Livingston, a former strategist for RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger platform. He has taken some pretty impressive features from BBM and added them to Kik which makes it worth it, but it lacks on other things. The inability to group chat, send broadcasts and rich multi media is lacking. Those small features may not seem like anything important, but when dealing with a business or production, the ability to group chat, broadcast, and send attachments can be the focal point as to how you mass communicate with your parties.
Once downloaded, Kik automatically goes through your phone’s address book and recommends contacts you know who have already have downloaded Kik. If you look at my screenshot, the Liaison, who has his screen name set to Bobby Brown, appeared as a recommendation for me. Once accepted, you can start chatting with friends instantly.
If you’re a blackBerry user, download Kik for free here from the App World
Will you make the the effort to Kik it? Have you tried it? I have, and from a 10 scale, I rate Kik a 7. Where do you rate Kik? Let us know! don’t forget to share!