Samsung’s ChatON Service Due by September, with iOS and BlackBerry Versions by Year’s End
Samsung said that it will have Android, Bada and feature-phone versions of its just-announced ChatON instant messaging service ready by September.
Additional versions for iOS and BlackBerry are also in the works and should be available soon, a Samsung representative told AllThingsD.
“ChatON will be available for all major platforms and devices by the end of 2011, including Android, iOS and BlackBerry,” the representative said.
ChatON is one of a growing number of services designed to compete with traditional text messaging, which works across all cellphones but is basically limited to text or multimedia messages. BlackBerry Messenger and Apple’s forthcoming iMessage service offer additional options, such as the ability to tell when a message has been delivered or read. Among the unique features of ChatON is an option to see a ranking of those with whom one has the most contact.
The service will be available in more than 60 languages and in more than 120 countries, Samsung has said.
“Users around the world can now enjoy easier and richer interactivity with whoever they want, in the format they want — this is mobile communication reinvented and democratized,” Samsung’s Ho Soo Lee said in a statement.