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Home»BlackBerry Software»News & Rumors, BlackBerry Apps

Kik Chat Goes Live, Kik Music App And More Still On The Way

by Bla1ze on 12 Apr 2010 03:26 AM
41
 
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

Well, this is interesting. As some of you may remember we first let loose some information about Kik back at the BlackBerry Developers Conference. Now, while we are all still waiting for the Kik music app to arrive, out of nowhere Kik has sent a message to some of the folks who signed up previously regarding a new application they have clearly been working on under the covers. Kik Chat as its called is a new SMS application which offers a well rounded feature set that I was totally impressed with as soon as I opened it. Check out the feature list, as noted from their email.

  • INSTANT: Just start texting any mobile phone number in your phone's address book and we automatically get it through. You can forget about requesting or following your friends, or trying to figure out who is and isn't on Kik. Woohoo!
  • UNLIMITED FREE KIK-TO-KIK: Get unlimited, free texting to all Kik users! So send your friends a free Kik message telling them to join. 
  • TWO WAY KIK-TO-NON-KIK: Stay connected to non-Kik users with 50 free outgoing SMS messages a month (unlimited free incoming). Additional outgoing messages are less than a cent. But hey, why not save the $0.009 by getting your friends to download Kik?
  • REAL NUMBERS = REAL RELIABILITY: Thanks to special arrangements with US and Canadian carriers, we send your Kik-to-Non-Kik messages through real mobile phone numbers. That guarantees fast delivery of every Kik-to-Non-Kik text. Nice! Most other services still rely on email to SMS gateways, which means your texts can take up to 8 hours to deliver. Sooo 2009.
  • BLACKBERRY AND IPHONE PEACEMAKER: We took the time to develop an awesome app for both BlackBerry AND iPhone. Now you can easily and reliably text your iPhone and BlackBerry friends for free. (Note: the iPhone app costs $0.99)
  • NO LONG DISTANCE SMS CHARGES: Your friends who haven't yet joined Kik can reply without paying long distance SMS charges. How so? We automatically assign you a local texting phone number in each country we support (currently US and Canada).
  • FUNCTIONAL STATUS: Have time to read a message, but not respond? Don't worry, we won't rat you out. BBM users know why you'll love this feature. :)

Pretty cool and well, totally unexpected. Kik to Kik SMS is free, so it's a valid reason to suggest it to other users so you can have free SMS to them. And just in case you still have friends and family members not using Kik, they will give you 50 free messages to those users each month. Now, this isn't to say the Kik music app we saw is no longer coming, it's actually planned for a later release along with a few other items on the list as well. This is just one piece of Kik that will build a whole community around the apps offered. Kik works with the BlackBerry Bold , Bold 9700, Tour, 8300, 8500, 8800 and 8900 and finally iPhones with more to come, including Android devices.

Filed Under: News & Rumors, BlackBerry Apps; Tags: app video, free app, instant messaging, Kik, video
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41 Comments

Posted by boman06210 Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

not for storm, but they have an iphone app? tha sux..

 
 
Posted by Revyrah Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

...When you click on the ota link you see the following...

"Kik for Storm is *so close* to being finished. Please check back regularly! Two weeks tops."

 
 
Posted by emacf1 Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

let us know (e.g. via Twitter) when it's available... Why can't I use the Bold Version in the meantime?

 
 
Posted by ted_livingston Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

You should be able to... What seems to be the issue? Currently we only support US and Canada, but that will change :)

Ted

 
 
Posted by emacf1 Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

When I point my browser to http://kick/m I just get a page saying that"

Kick for Storm is *so close* to being finished...

Is your DevCon Storm2 prize already broken? :-)

 
 
Posted by ted_livingston Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

Haha no, but we don't make anyone use it full time so it is pretty safe for now :)

Hmm, that is really strange, as we auto detect browser so should work. You can try a) app world or b) going into options and setting your browser to IE or firefox, and then selecting manually.

Hope that works!

 
 
Posted by fcknbambola Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

I JUST saw this in app world & was wondering what it was. I came here & POW! Instant explanation. Crackberry rocks! Me & the girlfriend are about to give it a go. Woohooo!

 
 
Posted by Bla1ze Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

I wasn't gonna post it till later today but it was just too cool not to post right away.

 
 
Posted by skyboxer Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

Am I missing something? I have unlimited sms already, but they will start charging me for doing with Kix that I get "for free" already? Does have a nice interface though.

 
 
Posted by Bla1ze Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

You get international unlimited text for free? If you don't text Int'l then it's a moot point but if you do, then Kik got you covered. I like the UI and better SMS integration it offers and presence status. If you have people that are using Kik with you and see that you're not available..normal, non intrusive people won't bother to text you. As well, the sent and read reciepts is pretty slick.

Is it for everyone? No, not likely but there are plenty of users out there that will see value in the application. Especially if all your friends/contacts are using it. Whatever you are paying your carrier, you can kill off that plan and just use Kik as it uses your data plan instead. The only time you pay is if you go over the 50/mnth to non Kik users should you decide you need more for non Kik users.

And, for what it's worth..there is more to this app then what is revealed at the moment, Kik is building "apps" that work with each other..this is just one app, which is the beginning of future apps and deeper integration. 

Bigger things ahead, I promise.

 
 
Posted by _X_ Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

All you do is type the phone # and the carrier extension like

#@vtext.com

What has not been free was receiving messages. Are text messages received free with Kik?

Also it would be interesting to see a comparison between this product and GTalk which is completely free

=X=

 
 
Posted by Rolandh Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

Why are developers over looking the Pearl when the create apps, I know the Pearl is an old device and there is the issue with the limited amount of memory but the Pearl is a cool little device and I love how compact the Pearl is. Come on developers please make your apps compatable with the 81xx handsets. I was going to download this app and give it a try until a saw the sucky news that the app is only for the Bold, Tour, iPhone and Android handsets :(

 
 
Posted by theinitialisk Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

Not available for UK numbers :(

 
 
Posted by CaCHooKaMan Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

awesome.. you cant exit the program and it keeps running in the background even when you turn push notifications off

 
 
Posted by jecrong Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

When will this be available for our carriers/providers here?

 
 
Posted by ted_livingston Monday, Apr 12, 2010 774 days ago

Hey All,

Ted from Kik. First off, thanks for the post Bla1ze. As you correctly point out, this is the start of much much bigger things (check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir9Q6dNLCd0 for the tip of the iceberg).

I can't tell you how excited we are (a bunch of us tried to get some sleep, but it just isn't possible right now). It took us a little longer to get to market than we'd like, but we built Kik so that things can be added on quickly to create a lot of very interesting user experiences.

So enjoy Kik Chat, and get ready for some cool things to come!

Back to work...

Ted

 
 
Posted by Revyrah Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

...that Kik is going to turn into one of the most prominent app families? I'm gonna wait patiently on my Storm2 9550. Thank you in advance Ted.

 
 
Posted by 647berry Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

cool app, but unless you got international friends isn't this kinda pointless? if they got msn wouldn't that work the same? does the iphone end need to stay on the app to recieve my text?

 
 
Posted by blessed2bamommie Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

like you can chat with iphone users? Well, I was all over it but my dh told me I have unlimited now lol! I guess I'm not cool enough to have anyone to chat with overseas until my little sister moves to the UK.

 
 
Posted by montage Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

GREAT! another pointless program that re invents the wheel.... HOW is this different to using BBM or any other instant messenger program? I think we have already been catered for.. but thumbs up kik chat for achieving nothing.

 
 
Posted by Michelle Haag Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

I don't have SMS on my monthly plan, as most of my friends have BBM or I email them or Twitter or whatever.
However, I live in Canada, my mom lives in the US. She has a TracPhone, and can send/receive text. She obviously can't install MSN or any other IM program on her pre-paid crappy phone. Now, I can text my mom internationally for free (50 per month outgoing, unlimited incoming.)

Just because you won't use a particular app, does not mean that a market for it doesn't exist.

So, thumbs up you for being a jerk and leaving another pointless comment.

 
 
Posted by monkfromwes Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

Blaize,

"Kik Chat as it's called is a new SMS application"

it's = it is
its = possessive

 
 
Posted by Bla1ze Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

Sorry, my apologies. I'm off to sacrifice 1000 virigins for the sake of an '.

If I'm lucky, one of them virgins will be the developer of MS Words daughter since that is the app that did the spell check.

 
 
Posted by damnyooneek Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

sometimes people forget the apostrophe. its a blog not a dissertation. i do it mainly because im lazy.

 
 
Posted by Jonneh Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

Quit just TRYING to be a flat-out dick.
You give all the people who actually try to correct his real, grammatical mistakes a bad name. The only mistakes in typing that someone should be corrected on are the ones where the sentence doesn't make any sense, and the errors cause the article to be able to be read two different ways, causing confusion.

"it's" and "its" is hardly going to be difficult to figure out what he meant. Just shut up and go back to fapping off at 4chan.

 
 
Posted by Michelle Haag Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

It's "Bla1ze" not "Blaize"
*rolls eyes*

 
 
Posted by marcomendez Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

When will Kik be available worldwide?!
I'm especially interested in Switzerland, since I live there... :-))

 
 
Posted by jbdale Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

I had this on the iPhone for about a minute, then deleted it. Pointless app.

 
 
Posted by Tifoso Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

No android support. So much for chatting across all platforms.

 
 
Posted by Jonneh Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

Except for the fact that they even mention at the end of the article that Android will probably be coming soon. Did you quit reading before the end?

 
 
Posted by Tifoso Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

Actually, I did quit reading. Bla1ze's poor grammar gave me such a headache. 8^)

 
 
Posted by google123 Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

I installed on my Tour and every time I type a message, it doesn't show onscreen what I'm typing. I clicked the option to report a problem and 2 seconds later I get a Mail Delivery Status Notification (Failure)in my inbox for the Kik message that I supposedly just sent. I went ahead and removed the program. The UI looked nice at least.

 
 
Posted by Roscopcoletrain Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

I seem to be having the same issue on my 9700. Cant seem to type any messages in the text box.

 
 
Posted by Roscopcoletrain Tuesday, Apr 13, 2010 772 days ago

Got the fix for this. Turn off predictive text

 
 
Posted by jasonvw Monday, Apr 12, 2010 773 days ago

Seems to work alright. I dont have unlimited txts. I only have like 250 which I usually dont use much so this will actually save me money since I can get rid of that plan. 50 will probably be more than enough.

@Ted Please get the devs to update the app so you can shut it down if you wish. Thats my only gripe with the app.

 
 
Posted by stevenje98 Tuesday, Apr 13, 2010 773 days ago

installed it on the BB9000 and the Iphone. Tested and Works great !

 
 
Posted by nada123 Tuesday, Apr 13, 2010 773 days ago

Just trying to be a dick hard. from http://www.electronicswholesaledistributor.com/
You give all the people who actually try to correct its true grammatical errors a bad reputation. The typos in that someone must be corrected are those where the sentence is meaningless, and errors cause the article to be read in two ways, source of knowledge

 
 
Posted by Moynes Tuesday, Apr 13, 2010 772 days ago

Works great for me!! as I have alot of friends in th US who aren't always at a computer and don't have a bb! Thanks Kik

 
 
Posted by Oniberry Thursday, Sep 16, 2010 617 days ago

Not a fan. I have bbm and crunchsms and I don't pay international text rates. In fact most people don't. This app is obviously geared towards the "pay as you go model". I keep getting Texts from Kik with various confirmation codes. The program decided to text me to tell me that I know have kik? Wonderful. Must be for those rare times when someone installs an app on your phone and you missed it. Most of my contacts have multiple contact numbers, I love how all of those contacts now three different entries in the kik address list.

 
 
Posted by wildta2000 Tuesday, Nov 02, 2010 569 days ago

Kik has a serious privacy flaw. Kik ties in a person's username with their email address. Kik then sorts through the person's addressbook to find potential friends. This is considered a major privacy issue because a user may not want someone that is in their addressbook to know they have a Kik account--but they will because if they have your email address then they also have your Kik username without authorization or adding that person to your friends list. I understand the usefulness of finding other Kik users quite easily but there should be an ability to turn off the feature that searches for other Kik users in your addressbook.

There's a reason why Blackberry Messenger allows its users to accept/reject another user before they are able to message them, and that it doesn't just sift through the user's address book looking for other potential BBM users.

You also cannot change your username.

 
 
Posted by Dirtyred218 Monday, Nov 29, 2010 542 days ago

Dirtyredd 31/f/nyc welcomes you to Midnight Talks (24/7 x rated and cool convo chat room) on BBM. Adults you must be 25 and older for entry. Cum get wet, meet new people, and have fun 228BA64A. You must talk or you will be deleted.