WATERLOO, ON – A company founded by a team of students at the University of Waterloo has created an unlimited free texting app for BlackBerry and iPhone users across North America.
Kik said on Monday that its app will work with all iPhones and the BlackBerry Bold 1, Bold 2, Tour, 8300, 8500, 8800 and 8900, with more to come, including Android devices, provided that users have a mobile data plan in the United States or Canada.
"I’m confident we’ve produced the best unlimited free texting service anywhere," said president and CEO Ted Livingston, in a statement. "Now users of both platforms can easily and reliably text each other for free."
One of the features that sets Kik’s ‘Chat’ feature apart is that friends who haven’t yet joined Kik can reply without paying long distance SMS charges, as Kik automatically assigns users a local texting phone number in each country it supports (currently U.S. and Canada).
The company also said that thanks to special arrangements with U.S. and Canadian carriers, Kik-to-Non-Kik messages are sent through real mobile phone numbers, which guarantees fast delivery of every Kik-to-Non-Kik text. Most other services still rely on email to SMS gateways, which means that texts can take up to 8 hours to deliver.
