Consumer electronics giant Samsung is looking to break into the mobile messaging market. The company's new "ChatON" service will connect all major smart phones and allow users to share images and videos, write out notes and speak with individuals or a group. But with chat apps like AIM and Yahoo - not to mention iMessage - enjoying a commanding jump-start, it's unclear if Samsung can compete.
A key feature the company hopes will set ChatON apart from competing services (aside from universal support) is two-tiered functionality that caters to both cell phone savants and those who prefer keeping mobile communication nice and simple. Samsung detailed both.
An advanced option offers buddy profile commenting and an "Interaction Rank" that keeps track of who users have been chatting with. Creative types can also combine voice message with visual imagery for a unique, shareable "animation message." Those who just want to talk can ignore those features and settle for the usual suite of chat options and divisive emoticons, said the company.
Ho Soo Lee, Samsung Electronics Media Solution Center chief, touted the importance of both.
"With ChatON, Samsung has vastly simplified mobile communication by allowing users to connect to our upcoming feature phones and all major Smartphones in the market," said Lee. "Users around the world can now enjoy easier and richer interactivity with whoever they want, in the format they want - this is mobile communication reinvented and democratized."
For now, Samsung remains focused on bringing ChatON to smart phones - not least of which its own. Eventually, however, it plans to publish the free app on both tablets and PC notebooks.
Samsung promised further information about ChatON will be revealed later this week at the annual IFA consumer electronics conference in Berlin.
