OMG, What Are Those Cute Icons in Your Text Message? LOL.
After spreading its cutesy text messages throughout Europe and Asia, start-up Zlango is landing on U.S. shores.
The Tel Aviv company’s Android-based service augments traditional text messages with a variety of icons accompanying common words. Over time, the company also wants to let users add their own icons and download others.
The company is trying to capitalize on the popularity of services like the Emoji character service in Japan, as well as the burgeoning global market for text messages.
“Zlango is aiming to become the Emoji of the world,” CEO Roni Heim told AllThingsD. “We localize what we are doing in every country. This is only the beginning of the beginning.”
The key question, though, is whether the company can get a critical mass of users to adopt the service, especially given that it is Android-only for now, though an iPhone version is planned for early next year. Those that are sent messages but don’t have Zlango get a standard text message, along with a Web link to a page that includes the full message with those adorable little icons.
Among those betting it can attract a following are backers Benchmark Capital and DAG Ventures, among other investors that have poured a collective $9 million into the 30-person company.
Benchmark general partner Michael Eisenberg agrees that finding enthusiastic users will be the company’s challenge, but notes that the service has an edge that should appeal.
“What we’ve seen internationally — and I think the same thing will happen in the U.S. — is that you will see clusters of people pounding on this thing,” Eisenberg said.
Among the best arguments for the service’s success is the fact that it will be free in the U.S. and has managed to get users in Asia and elsewhere to pay a monthly subscription fee. The company currently has about four million unique users each month. Here, the company hopes to make money through a combination of advertising and premium services, such as future theme packs that add, say, vampires or gangsters.
