India based messenger service Hike has just announced that they have launched a version of their app for BlackBerry devices running the older version of BlackBerry OS. The app launched back in December 2012 managed to rake in 5M users in just 4 months and claim to be amongst the fastest growing messaging apps globally.
The new version of Hike Messenger would work on devices running OS 5,6 and 7. It is said to be very simple to use and has a faster and attractive UI. Keeping in mind the Indian userbase of the application, they have added Indian Stickers and emoticons. The App also lets users group their close friends together. Only these close friends would have access to Status Updates and ‘Last Seen’. This is a much welcome privacy option as compared to Whatsapp which allows anyone that has the users number in their contacts to see their last seen timestamp.
Hike also allows users to send free SMS to people who do not have Hike installed on their phones. The company believes that owing to less penetration of smartphones and data plans in India, people will extensively use this free SMS option. The company in its press release also adds that they see themselves as the BBM for this generation.
You can download the app here – http://get.hike.in/bb/
