Although WhatsApp, LINE and WeChat are considered as the major contenders in the IM (instant messaging) space, no one has won the war yet. There are still a number of IM apps that want to acquire a majority of the market share. Hike is a cross platform IM app co-developed by Bharti Airtel & SoftBank to stop users from flocking to other services like WhatsApp and WeChat.
Starting today, Hike is offering users with practically unlimited free SMS. Although there's a catch. Instead of offering fixed amount of free monthly SMS quota, the more the user chats using Hike, the more free SMS credits they would get according to the new offer. This gamification strategy will provide more engaging Hike users. Initially published in 2012 for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry and Symbian S60, Hike has managed to acquire 15 million users recently. Some of the other features in Hike allow users to upload text and image status updates, sending images/videos/stickers and location as well as changing chat themes among others. There is also a privacy setting that allows users in hiding their 'last seen' time stamp.
