Korean Chat Service Experiences Over A Billion Texts A Day
by Lenny Liang
January 3, 2012
The Next Web (TNW), via The Chosenilbo, has reported that the Korean mobile chat service, KakaoTalk, now has daily traffic of over 1 billion texts a day.
As stated in TNW:
The service is hugely popular in South Korea, where almost everyone that owns a smartphone uses Kakao Talk. In light of that popularity, it is quite incredible that the service has hit the milestone as it has only been running since March 2010, that translates to an impressive average of 10,000 messages per second.Congratulations to KakaoTalk for this noteworthy accomplishment. The question becomes "Why should Americans care about the success of a wildly popular Korean app?" The answer is: That app is also available here. And it's good. Some of the notable features of KakaoTalk Messenger are that it's unlimited, global, and available on iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. You can send texts, pictures, and video, as well as voice notes. It distinguishes itself from an app like Apple's iMessage with additional features, like the ability to change the background image and exporting your conversations to email. The app is similar to the popular WhatsApp Messenger, but it is currently free. Please see Kakao's web site for a full list of features. The app's biggest weakness is that it is not as popular in the U.S. as it is abroad. That may change. In terms of price, features, usability, and speed, KakaoTalk Messenger has proven itself to be an able app. It's a great way to chat with your friends, especially if they live in Korea. KakaoTalk Messenger is available in the App Store now - free of charge.