Bean Killer?
Samsung Electronics announced on Sept. 16 that it will release its new messaging app called Socializer through Samsung Tomorrow, its official blog, mounting a serious challenge in the mobile messaging app market once again.
Based on the Telegram source code for the Android operating system (OS), the most notable characteristic of Socializer is that it is possible to use necessary apps right away in the chat room without installing them. A total of 11 apps related to games, memos, and others are pre-installed in the new messaging app.
Much attention is being paid to whether or not Samsung will be able to come off the disappointing performance in the mobile messaging app market with the launch of Socializer. In Oct. 2011, the Korean tech giant introduced a mobile messaging app named ChatON to 240 countries around the world. It was available on Android OS, iOS, BlackBerry OS, and Windows OS. However, it failed to overcome the huge popularity of KakaoTalk, Line, and WeChat, which are firmly entrenched in the market. In the end, Samsung discontinued support for ChatON in Feb. of this year, nearly three years after its launch. At that time, many observers said that the tech company might opt out of the mobile messaging app business permanently.
To recover from its poor performance in the messaging app business, Samsung is looking to increase the number of users of Socializer by encouraging people develop various types of apps on the new messaging app. Socializer allows anyone to make and share apps in chat rooms, in addition to pre-installed apps. Samsung is also working to develop Socializer for Tizen OS.
Some in the industry believe that it won't be easy for Socializer to attract users, since leading messaging apps have already entrenched their position in the market. An industry source said, "Since existing messaging apps do not cause great inconvenience for people, it will be difficult to absorb existing users without a drastic improvement in services."