Wireless Firm Exports Text Messaging Service
March 7, 2003
Chikka Asia, Inc., a wireless applications company is now marketing Internet-to-cellular phone text messaging as "chika" (the Filipino slang for "small talk").
"Small talk is really the nature of many of the text messages people exchange," Dennis Mendiola, Chikka Asia chief executive officer, said in a statement. "As we afford overseas communities a way to 'text' with Philippine contacts for free, we really look at ourselves as exporters of this 'chika culture.'"
The company claimed that Chikka presently handles millions of messages. The Chikka community currently adds hundreds of thousands of members monthly. Its growth is driven by PC users outside the Philippines particularly overseas communities in the US and in the Middle East .
The "gateway" is actually a form of two-way mobile instant messaging, which was first launched in the Philippines in 2001.
Instant Messengers (IMs) are used by millions of PC users especially in the United States. Key to real-time messaging between IM users is "presence detection" - you "see" buddies when they are online and know they are available to receive messages.
SMS (short message service on GSM networks) is meanwhile, Instant Messaging's counterpart in the wireless world. Almost 400 billion SMS messages were exchanged in 2002 between more than 500 million GSM subscribers, mostly in Europe and Asia .
Chikka is really a marriage of the two popular messaging platforms: IM and SMS. The mobile-centric Instant Messenger employs Chikka's own patented methods and systems recently confirmed by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.
Source: I.T. Matters
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