Verizon Adds iMessage-Like Capabilities to Its Text Messages

Verizon’s new messaging service works with Android phones and tablets and iPads as well as PCs.
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Jibe Picks Up $8.3 Million From Vodafone and MTI to Help Build Carrier-Quality Messaging Into Apps

Start-up Jibe hopes to transform video chat from being its own separate program to being a feature within lots of other apps.
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OMG, the Text Message Turns 20

But amid pressure from rivals such as iMessage, Skype and WhatsApp, is the SMS already over the hill?
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Samsung’s ChatON Service Due by September, with iOS and BlackBerry Versions by Year’s End

The first version Samsung’s IM service will support Android and Bada; by year’s end it should work on all major devices.
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Samsung Getting Its Chat On With Siloed IM Service

Following Apple and Research In Motion, Samsung says that it, too, will offer a dedicated messaging service available for Samsung device owners to easily message one another.
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New AT&T Customers to Face Tough Choice on Text Messages

The wireless carrier is doing away with its bundled plans, forcing new customers to either pay $20 a month for unlimited texting or a hefty 20 cents per message. Current customers, however, can keep their bundled plans.
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Microsoft Looks to Mango to Make Windows Phone a Better Communicator

Among the more than 500 new features in the Mango release of Windows Phone are several aimed at making Microsoft smartphones into social butterflies.
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OMG: Royal Wedding Leads to a Bouquet of Text Messages, FWIW

Not only were people flocking to Twitter and Facebook to gab about the marriage of that prince and the English woman, but they were also sending a lot of text messages. Mobilized has just one message, and it applies to anything happening at 2 a.m., and it is this: Do Not Disturb.

Ex-Palm Team Finds Success Offering Free Calling and Texting for iPhone and Android

Pinger struck out with its first idea–a way to make voicemail more like email–but the team appears to have found its niche with its TextFree line of apps which offer free texting and even calling from the iPhone and Android phones. The service also works on devices such as the iPod Touch that don’t normally support calling.

Mobile World Congress Notebook: Battle of the Behemoth Booths

Aiming to capture the flavor of Barcelona, Mobilized’s Ina Fried reports back on some of the more massive booths at Mobile World Congress, including a two-story booth devoted to Android and an entire hall of wares from Sweden’s Ericsson.

Intuit Aims to Expand Quickly Into Tablets, Phones

Indian Start-Up Turns Texts Into Dollars