There are many alternative (data) SMS apps out there. Ping Chate, Whatsapp, etc.. One that has been particulary getting a lot of press recently is Kik Messenger. Why? Two reasons. First, it’s completely FREE. Second, it has all the addicting traits of the BlackBerry’s Messenger, but provides it across the 3 major platforms: Android, iPhone, and even Blackberry itself.
Kik messenger does miss out on some parts of the BBM magic, including: voice notes, pictures, and video. I am sure it is not far away from being added to the App. It does however have something very interesting which I believe contribues to it’s growth. It somehow seems to be able to automatically detect your friends who have also installed the App. You will get a notification that says “You may know (insert name here)” Now, I think this work by the app checking the phone number of the user and gathers the information in a database. If you have the app installed and it sees that a number you have on your contact list matches the phone number of a user who has Kik installed, it will assume that this is the person you know. It’s kind of scary but very useful at the same time. I’m sure privacy issues will arise at some point with this. Nonetheless, it is pretty cool how quick it can add contacts to your list to make the experience a little more pleasant rather than leaving you alone to find other Kik users.
Will Kik replace Blackberry Messenger? I don’t know but it sure will be a great alternative. It works really well, it is VERY fast, and best of all you can now “BBM” with people on all sorts of devices. I believe that if there is wide-spread adoption of this app, it could inflict some serious damage into BlackBerry Messenger and even the sales of RIM devices. BBM has a big part to play in the reason people stick with their BlackBerry device. This type of communication messaging just makes sense. SMS is just a huge scam from the providers which they call their bread and butter. I know that if more and more of my friends start using Kik messenger, I wouldn’t have a problem leaving my BlackBerry behind. Until then, BlackBerry and BBM are here to stay for me.
