As all my friends switched from blackberry to iPhones and androids, it became apparent that a messaging service similar to BBM would eventually replace text messaging. After testing six different messaging apps over the past 3 months, we discovered what makes a good messaging app and how this will effect app competition.
Though having a data based messaging app would make talking to all my friends easier, this was not our first focus. We wanted to create a "squad chat." A squad chat is a mobile, cross-platform, group chat that encompasses all our closest friends into one never ending group conversation world wide. We tested six messaging apps (whatsapp, pmessenger, kik messenger, cnect'd, PingChat, crunchSMS) in order to find a cross-platform group messenger.
After testing all the apps, two stood out as the best:
Kik messenger (best cross-platform messenger) does not have group chat, but it has the nicest interface on all three platforms and is quite consistent and reliable. This is currently the inter-squad one-on-one messenger.
Cnectd (best "squad chat") has the most reliable squad chat, but it's poor stylistic interfaces on blackberry and older android systems makes more of a practical app then a must have app.
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The truth is that once Kik has group chats, it will most likely take over as the cross platform messenger of choice. This week alone Kik has been the number 1 and number 3 top downloaded free blackberry app, competing with with Blackberry Messenger as the messenger app of choice. There is not question that the "Kik nation" has started.
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