After Email, it’s Chikka.com’s Instant Messaging Service
September 18, 2004
Three years after Manila-based Chikka.com launched its mobile instant messenger, Chikka is one of the most viewed and used electronic properties by Filipinos in the Philippines and all over the world, according to the company’s chief operating officer during the celebration of 10 Years of the Internet in the Philippines (One Internet Day) held recently at the SM Cyberzone in Mandaluyong City.
"At any given time, over one million PC and unified (PC and mobile) users are online chatting via our Chikka Txt Messenger," said COO Chito Bustamante. "And so more than any other Internet-based service today, excepting email, Chikka is the one thing that is bringing Filipinos together as an online community," Bustamante said.
Chikka is downloadable instant messaging software that lets PC users send free text messages to any mobile phone in the Philippines . Mobile users simply "text back" as they would to an ordinary text message, except this one zips through the Internet to his phone.
Launched in 2001, the unique application successfully married SMS and instant messaging (IM) technology. Eleven million subscribers make up the entire network at present, going online whenever prompted by PC buddies who see them on their screens.
Smart and Globe mobile phone users also have the advantage of "unifying" their PC and mobile accounts by simply using their GSM numbers as their Chikka log-on IDs. When away from their computer, their instant messaging session is uninterrupted as they still get messages via SMS. Finally, the traditional IM feature of buddy presence detection is supported on mobile. Thus, it is now possible to check via SMS who are online on their PCs.
"We get tens of thousands of registrations daily, many by overseas Filipinos who depend on Chikka’s two-way PC to mobile messaging to keep in touch with friends and family," said Bustamante.
"We see ourselves now as promoting both ‘cultures,?instant messaging and text messaging. The next step is to bring our community to more mobile operators around the world. This has begun for select Asian countries as well as in the US where mobile users in select areas are now also enjoying the benefits of unifying their PC and cell phone IDs."
Chikka Asia, Inc. is a pioneer in wireless applications services development, having created the world’s first mobile IM and proceeding to launch it in the coveted "SMS Capital." The company has since developed other integrated applications including mobile-interactive TV, SMS-enabled auction sites, mobile matchmaking, and mobile versions of Internet Relay Chat. It has fully exploited proprietary "suffixing" technology to bring successful Internet models to the mobile world. It licenses the same patented methods to affiliates and partners who have employed them for various mobile solutions, in turn launched by international carriers.
Source: PC Download World
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