Hike Messenger:
Hike Messaging app is the cross platform instant messaging app for communication on the internet. Hike was launched in December 2012. It was a joint venture of Bharti Enterprises and Softbank. It is a free software available on various mobile platforms founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal. It is one of the first instant messaging app made in India.
Availability:
Hike messenger can be downloaded i Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store and you can log in through your mobile number and chat and share pictures and videos with your friends and family.
Features:
- Themes: Hike Messenger supports two-way chat themes which mean you can apply different themes to your different contacts. You can either choose themes from hike app or apply a picture from your smartphone.
- Voice Calling: Hike app introduced voice calling feature for the users in January 2015.The Messenger provides free voice calling over the internet across the world in 200 countries. Then in September 2015 Hike introduced group calling through which you can do conference calling with up to 100 users. Hike acquired American based company Zip phones to make this possible.
- Video Calling: Video calling was introduced in October 2016 by Hike. It provides free video calling feature in more than 200 countries across the globe. This feature was appreciated by the users and encourage people to download the app.
- Graphical Stickers: On Hike app other than basic social messaging you can emote your thoughts through more than 5000 graphical stickers. The stickers are mostly designed for Indian audiences.
- Games: You can also play games like Snake, Solitaire and much more on the app.
- File sharing: Hike messenger also allows you to share files with in 100 meters of radius with using the internet or any data plan. You can transfer the files using Wi-Fi Direct. This feature was launched in October 2015.
Hike constantly working on user engagement and adds new features promptly according to the festivals and famous days. For example on March 2016 Hike announced a feature called Hike Smell added as a prank for April’s Fool Day.
Privacy:
Hike uses 128 Bit SSL Encrypted firewall server for exchange of data. Hike does not save any data on their server so nobody can track back the messages you exchanged.
The journey of Hike App:
Here are some key points of Hike’s journey so far.
- In December 2012 Hike messaging app was launched in more than 200 countries.
- Within four months in April 2013 Hike crossed 5 million users and the company raised the funding of 7 million dollars.
- In June 2013 company introduced graphical stickers, there are more than 5000 stickers on Hike app
- In September 2013 Hike tied up with Airtel to offer Hike at zero data charges.
- In December 2015 Hike added 9 new Indian languages apart from Hindi and English. Languages like Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, and Gujrati. Hike aim is to break the language barrier across the nation and want people to chat with family and friends in their native language.
- As of January 2017 Hike has crossed 100 million users.
Hike Marketing Strategies:
Though it was very tough for any company to even dream of competing with the app like WhatsApp.Hike has managed to create their own market by periodically updating their system. Hike’s unique and interactive features help it to penetrate into WhatsApp users and pulled them to use Hike.
Integrated Reward Program: Hike introduced a unique reward based referral program under which a user get Rs 20 for each successful referral and Rs 15 for adding a new user. This reward money could be redeemed for talk time for your phone.
TV Commercial: Hike ran a full fledged marketing and brand campaign across TV, radio, and Cinemas. The tagline for one of their TV ad was “Hike up your life” to convince youth to download the Hike app.
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